Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage
by Halloween Witch
Summary: It's been three years since the disbandment of Team Rocket and Gwyn Jalen is beginning her pokemon journey as well in the Johto region. Things seem normal until she encounters a red haired boy gazing into Professor Elm's laboratory and a young woman who seems like she could kick everyone's asses. And is it fight or flight when an old enemy of the young woman's come into play?
1. Start of a Friendship

_Full Summery: It's been three years since the disbandment of Team Rocket and Gwyn Jalen is beginning her pokemon journey as well in the Johto region. Things seem normal until she encounters a red haired boy gazing into Professor Elm's laboratory and a young woman who seems like she could kick everyone's asses. And is it fight or flight when an old enemy of the young woman's come into play?_

_**Quick Witch's Note: Oh boy… here we go again! On to the story!**_

_Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage_

_Chapter 1: The Start of a Friendship_

**Mystery Letter:**

_Hey Hon,_

_I'm sorry it's been so long since I contacted you last, but I got caught up in my training all over again. Things have been busy up on the mountain, but I'm sure you're just as busy as I am with your gym battles._

_Is it true that Lance has claimed the title of the Johto championship for himself? It seems a tad rude for him to do that. I mean, he and the others waited forever for their first champion in the Kanto league, so why did he suddenly take the title of the other region?_

_Anyway, I'm getting off topic. This letter may be short, but I thought it would interest you __**immensely**__._

_You know how I love games, especially as we got older and stronger together. And you've always been good at solving them. So here's my proposal to you…_

_I'm in the Johto region, where I am I won't tell you, since it's against the rules. Come find me and I'll come home with you…_

_If you can…_

_And let me tell you…_

_I'm not that easy to catch…_

_And I don't plan to go easy on you…_

_But that's the fun in it, so catch me if you can…_

_(The last of the note is ignored and the person reading this note has left it behind.)_

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

"Yippee!" I squealed and jumped from my bed when I realized it was morning, the day of my thirteenth birthday had finally arrived. I was finally at the age where I could leave home and become a trainer by my own free will. But the part that really excited me was the fact that I was leaving this day (to my mother's disappointment.)

I quickly got dressed into my bright yellow kapris, rolled up slightly at the end of them to reveal the pale yellow color underneath, and my magenta colored shirt that was cut off on my lower back and angled upward over the front of my chest, then kept up with a tie that came around my neck. To keep warm I put my white jacket over it that was lined with mareep wool that could keep even the most brisk of weather out (unless I paid a trip to the Ice Path.) I slipped on my white and pink sneakers and my yellow fingerless gloves before I finished up all my other essentials in my bathroom, looking up to see my bright blue eyes looking back at me and straight dark blue hair that sat against my shoulders and back. I grabbed my light pink side bag that sat by my door and rushed down the stairs from my room.

"Slow down Gwyn! You'll end up hurting yourself!" I heard my mother call from the first floor right as I reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Sorry Mom, I'm just excited for today." I smiled over to my mother who sat calmly at the table, watching me. She sighed and stood from her spot and walked over to me. Her wavy, black locks framed around her face and her light brown eyes. She was already dressed in her pink dress with her blue and white apron, so I knew she was ready for the day. I saw a light meal and a box sat waiting for me on the table.

"Happy birthday Gwyn." She sniffed, tears forming along the edges of her eyes and hugged me tightly in her arms. "My baby is going on her journey…"

"Mom, you know I'm going to come back and visit when I can." I reminded the sobbing woman, whose hands had latched into my hair and soaked my shoulder.

She patted my back a few times while I held her a little longer and she finally pulled herself away from me and took a deep breath to relax. "You're right honey, I'm over worrying again. Just promise me you'll call me every now and then on your pokegear."

"You know I will Mom." It was then that we heard a knock on the door. "Come in!"

The door quickly opened and I all too soon saw my best friend Aaron walk in the front door. "Morning! Hi Mrs. Jalen! Happy thirteenth birthday Gwyn!" He cheered to me and I couldn't help but laugh as he walked into our home. Aaron was always a loud and head strong person, never bothering to let anyone else tell him what he should do, but he's always open to suggestions.

I saw my best friend had changed into the new clothes his mother most likely made for him for when we left town today. He was dressed with his shorts that came down to just below his knees that were black in color (if not that color then a really dark gray), his sneakers, his black under shirt over his red hoodie like jacket that was white on the underside and he already had his backpack attached to his back with a single strap that wrapped over his chest. To finish the outfit, he wore his favorite black and yellow three striped hat over his head backwards and had a large chuck of black hair sticking out from under it before his face that sat just before his dark brown eyes.

Today was the day we'd been waiting on for a long while, my birthday and the day we both got our first pokemon and would be able to leave town on our journey. Its normal for many kids at thirteen to leave home for a pokemon journey, though the age limit used to be ten. Due to many complaints from about their young children out on their own at such a young age, the law's been changed since then to thirteen, and if you do see a child younger then that, they have papers, to say that its okay with their parents, on them so they don't get in trouble.

Anyway, Aaron had been waiting for the past few months until I turned thirteen so we could go. Its not like my mom didn't want me to go, but she asked I wait until I reached thirteen before I left, and I agreed if she gave me full support.

"So what's the plan for this morning Gwyn? I'm ready to get going whenever you are." I snickered at Aaron's readiness to leave the town, and I don't blame him. I love my mother, but I'm ready to hit the road.

"Just as soon as I eat and I get anything else my mom wants to send with me." I told him and turned back to my mother, who handed me the small box. Inside were my trainer card and my badge case. I looked at the bottom of the box once I pulled out a photo album. I gave a confused look over to my mother and she smiled.

"There've been quite a few camera men going around to certain cities that make a living off of taking pictures, so I thought you might want to take a picture here and there of you and your pokemon so you can see them as they grow and remember later on." I smiled at my mother and hugged her before I placed my items into my bag.

I grabbed my small breakfast from the table. I practically shoved it down my throat before I passed Aaron and ran out the door. I heard a muffled snort from him before he raced after me in the small town of New Bark and we headed down the street to where the professor's lab was located near the edge of town. His lab was a two floor large building where he hand living arrangements for him and his family above the lab while his research was below him.

We entered the building without a knock; the professor knew we were coming that day. We immediately saw his many shelves of work and books as soon as we walked inside along with his single assistant he had. We moved beyond them and there we saw the professor, he seemed to be placing pokeballs on a machine and jumped with a yelp when he turned around and saw us. When he finally calmed down he gave us a better welcome then he had a moment ago.

"Good morning Aaron, Gwyn!" The professor easily greeted us with a large smile. His light brown hair was cut short and he had a small spike of it sticking up at the back of his temple. Small glasses sat upon his nose before his eyes and a large white lab coat rested over his shoulders and arms, around his body that covered most of his tan pants and his blue shirt. "I take it your both here for you first pokemon?"

"Yes sir." We replied together. Grins were set upon our faces and we looked at the pokeballs in anticipation.

"Alright you two, go ahead and pi-" the professor suddenly stopped mid-sentence and looked back at his laptop on his desk. "Hang on a moment." The professor moved over to where his computer was and he looked over an apparent message that was on the screen. He mumbled as he read it and Aaron and I looked over at each other in confusion.

Soon enough though, the professor came back over to our sides and apologized. "I'm sorry kids, an old acquaintance of mine was telling me of a discovery he made. He wants me to come over to his house and see something he found." He shook it off. "Anyway, go ahead and pick out your pokemon."

I bound forward before Aaron could and opened up the first pokeball I had grabbed, which happened to be the one I'd been eyeing since we got here. Out of the ball came a small four legged creature that was blue and tan in coloration with small red dots on the blue coloring, where I'm sure fire came out, was on its back. Its long snout was probably about the length of my hand. It stood up on its back legs and looked up at me with its eyes hidden behind its eye lids that were mostly closed. It was a cyndaquil, the fire type of the bunch. I hadn't even met the others yet and I knew this was the one I wanted.

"I want this one professor." I told him. I picked up the small pokemon in my arms and it squealed and squirmed up out of my arms and onto my shoulder. It sniffed my entire body over before it settled back down my arms and called out "Cynda!"

"Awe! No fair Gwyn!" Aaron whined and looked back to the two remaining pokeballs. He picked up the two of them and released them. One of the two was a small blue gator of some sort that stood on its back legs and had a white stripe across its chest and red spikes on its back down to its tail. Sharp teeth were in its mouth and sharp claws outlined its little hands. The totodile's wide eyes looked around happily and it started to run around.

The other little pokemon stood where it was and looked up at Aaron in amazement. Its body was mostly green and stood on four legs. It had a stubby tail and small little dark beats of green around its neck. On top of its head was a large leaf and its eyes were bright strawberry red. Aaron and the chikorita looked at each other for a while before the small green pokemon walked over to Aaron and rubbed his leg. Aaron smiled down at it and picked it up in his arms.

"I'll take this one professor." He told him and picked up the grass type of the group. Chikorita smiled at Aaron and rubbed its head against his jacket.

Tododile finally noticed that it was the only one that wasn't chosen and suddenly lowered its head. Professor Elm walked over to it and patted its back. "Its okay Tododile, I've got another starting trainer that's making their way up here and you'll go with them." It made me feel bad for the little one. It wanted to go on a journey too just like our pokemon, but I guess this one had to wait just a little longer.

"Now with that out of the way, is there any nickname that the two of you want to name your new pokemon?" The professor questioned us.

"Naw, I'm good." Aaron said. His chikorita nodded in his arms.

"I will." I told the professor. I looked down at my cyndaquil. "I was thinking of Cynder cuz you're a fire type and I bet you can scorch a lot of opponents. What'd you think?"

"Cynda!" The cyndaquil cried happily and nuzzled its face into my arms.

"What a wonderful name Gwyn, I hope you and Cynder treasure your friendship together, and don't forget to be there for each other in hard times when you need each other, the same goes for you and Chikorita, Aaron."

"Don't worry about us professor; we'll be some of the best trainers ever!" My best friend grinned at the man and the man supplied a smile back.

"That I'm glad to hear Aaron, now let me give the two of you some items to take with you for your trip." The professor reached off to the side and grabbed a few items for us, starting out with some pokeballs to use for capturing pokemon to have on our teams while he also handed us a few potions in case our pokemon were hurt. "Those items should come in real handy for you kids, and also, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if I put my number in your pokegear? I'd like to know how the progress of your pokemon and how they are doing as they grow."

"That's not a problem professor," I smiled brightly at him. "What's your number?"

The professor quickly gave us his number, and I programmed it into my pokegear. I quickly tucked it away in my pocket. It was then that we heard the phone ring again for the professor and he groaned as he hurried over to pick it up.

He grumbled to the person on the other end of the line who they, apparently opposite to the professor, were quite happily about something that was happening over on his end of the line. The professor sighed and leaned against a piece of machinery that he had on hand and tapped his fingers against it while he listened to the person on the other side. He then raised his eye brow; he was surprised or shocked by some feature. I blinked over at him before I looked to my best friend. He only shrugged back. Both pokemon looked worriedly in our arms at him.

When the professor finally noticed us looking at him so intently while he listened to the other person on the line, he smiled shyly and waved before he hung up with the person after agreeing to something. He sighed and fell backward into his chair and pulled up a map of the area.

"Uh, professor?" I questioned him and he turned around to look at me. "What just happened?"

"Oh don't you worry yourself over it Gwyn, my colleague just won't take no for an answer, he wants me to come down and see what new discovery he's made on pokemon, but I don't have any time to leave the lab." He sighed. "I'll have to ask the wife and kid to watch it for me while I obey his whim. I sometimes hate that man…"

"Well," I looked over at Aaron and he nodded before he looked back at me. "Aaron and I could go get it for you. We could also make this a contest to see who can get there first with the object or whatever he wants to show you. It would also help our pokemon train and give us some good beginning experience under our belts."

"And it wouldn't take us long too, I mean, we'd probably be back before nightfall if it's not too far away right?" Aaron added. "Come on professor, we'll do it for you!"

"Well… if you kids are so insistent, then I guess I don't mind." The professor looked relieved as we told him that. "So my colleague is named Mr. Pokemon, he lives out on route thirty route thirty in the forest there where he can be surrounded by nature and pokemon to study them. You should find his house easily enough, just north of Cherrygrove and it's surrounded by berry bushes and trees of all kinds."

"That doesn't sound too hard." Cynder nodded in my arms in agreement.

"Yes, but sometimes people can get lost in the forest, so do be careful you two." He relaxed into his chair and turned to a computer. "I'm going to get back to work now, so you kids get going and I'll meet you back here later."

Aaron and I nodded to him before we took off out the door with our new pokemon in our arms.

"So Gwyn? You think I can battle you now and see how awesome our pokemon are?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Aaron, let's complete our task first, then you an I can battle, okay?"

He grumbled, but nodded toward me as we exited the lab.

As soon as we were about to leave town however, we saw a young boy about our age that was staring into the professor's window. I blinked a few times at that before I showed Aaron and he looked too. Aaron's eyes narrowed and he made his way over to the boy who stood there.

"Hey! What are you doing?" The boy there glanced at him with cold hard eyes beneath his long, shoulder length red hair. He turned his body to show the dark clothing he had on, a dark jacket with sections outline in a blue lavender color while his jacket was midnight blue. His pants were a more lavender purple shade and he hand on some sort of black sneakers.

"Stay out of my way!" He gave Aaron a shove and I watched fearfully as he fell only to look at the boy and demand an apology when I saw he wasn't there anymore. I helped Aaron up and he looked around for the red haired boy too, but we couldn't find any sign of him. I sighed and dragged Aaron away toward route twenty-nine, hoping we wouldn't run into him again.

The route that was between the towns was relatively short with only many trees in between and a few pokemon were out and about. Some I recognized, like pidgey and sentret, but none that I wished to add to my team. We were also on the clock right now; our fun would come in place when we split up in the woods to find his house.

Our traveling made us all the way through route twenty-nine before we made it to the quite tiny city of Cherrygrove, the small town was filled with pokemon and flowers of all kinds. It was a cute little place that was nice to look at, with its small pond to fish in.

We quickly pushed our way past the city and into the next set of woods north of that, route thirty. It was a largely forested route with many trees, the perfect place for a house to hide in.

"So this is where we'll split up. You choose the way you want to go and I'll go the other way." Aaron told me. His chikorita was already on the ground and ready to get going. My cyndaquil was also ready and the fire was coming out of its back through its pores while it waited for us to race off.

"I'll go the left then," I told him.

"Then I'll take right then." Aaron grinned. "Just the path I wanted! I'm gonna head out now then Gwyn, good luck!"

"Good luck to you too Aaron!" I waved him off as he disappeared into the woods and I turned back to my pokemon. "Okay Cynder, lets go!"

Cynder and I took off into the woods on the left side, following the path that was marked out. Many pokemon seemed to be gathered and eating at the many berries in the area as we walked by them. They never noticed us as we made our way by, though one did stiffen, it must have been a bad berry from the way it scrunched up its face.

"Cynda!" Cynder called out and pointed me toward the back of the woods where I finally saw a clearing. A house appeared at the very back, quite old and log cabin like in appearance. It blended right in with the surroundings, which is why it probably was hard to find. Many berry trees were placed around the front of it, but at the same time, there was another tree. It seemed to have colored apricorns, which if I remembered correctly, they could be used to create pokeballs. They were about the size of a pokeball, if not, then a tad larger. They were pink in color; I'd have to see if Mr. Pokѐmon minded if I took some.

I walked up through the patches of grass with Cynder until I made it to the door to the house. I knocked on it politely and I heard a scuffling sound inside. I tilted my head in confusion and leaned my ear up to the door to listen. While I heard the sounds inside, the door was ripped backward and startled me, Cynder as well from the way it jumped into my arms.

"Ah! You have arrived!" A small man that was dressed in a brown suit and hat commented as he pulled me inside. He held a cane to keep him upright, even with his high energy spirits. He dragged me and Cynder inside and set us down at his table before a large machine. My eyes grew wide at it and Cynder was confused by the machine.

"Cynda?" it questioned.

"I don't know what it's for Cynder." I whispered to my pokemon. I set it into my lap and Cynder cuddled there while we watched the man dig through many items in the back before I noticed that there was another man in the house with him. It seemed to be another professor of pokemon, but one that was much more calm and held together as the situation went on with first man. He gave me a smile at his computer before getting back to work.

"Ah ha!" I turned back to the first man who finally pulled out what seemed to be an egg from his pile of junk that was within a container. He left the pile of junk behind him as it was before he came over to me and presented me the egg. "Here is my discovery! A pokemon egg that I am certain is not from this region! Oh, wait!" He laughed as he paused and moved backwards. "My apologies, I'm Mr. Pokѐmon. Professor Elm emailed me that you and your friend were coming to get the egg. So I assume you are Gwyn, yes?"

"Yes, that's me sir." It was finally calm enough around him where I wasn't freaked out by it. I lifted up Cynder for him to see. "And this is my pokemon, Cynder; we just met earlier today and plan to start a journey together!"

Cynder raised up its paw and cheered, "Cyndaquil!"

Mr. Pokѐmon sighed. "Another pokemon journey… oh how exciting! Maybe you may even get the chance to challenge Champion Violet one day."

I pouted at him. "I don't know if I'll get that strong, but I'll certainly aim towards her."

"That's the spirit!"

"Excuse me, but may I take a look at your pokemon?" I turned to the side and looked over at the other man who had been at the computer. He was looking intently at Cynder.

"I guess so." The man's face lit up and he hurried over to me to look at my fire type in my lap. I saw Cynder get nervous under his inspection of it and it suddenly screeched before the professor was blasted by a puff of fire. The professor cried out and fell backward and I gasped when I saw him in a heap on the floor, covered in soot and the tip of his hair still caught with a flame.

"Cynder!" I scolded my pokemon and it lowered his head.

"Oh don't worry; she did exactly what I expected her to do." The professor got up and stood wobbly on his feet.

"She?" I looked down at my cyndaquil and it smiled up at me before it laughed and pointed at the professor's face.

"Yes, she. Your cyndaquil is a she." The professor confirmed. "Though I didn't expect you to know right off the bat, you don't know how to tell the genders apart, but then again, cyndaquil would be hard to tell apart since males and females look identical." The professor went over to the other side of the room and grabbed three devices, handing one to me to look at. "These devices are called pokedex; they tell you nearly everything about the pokemon that you come across. Like for example, it told me that she was female, was only about the age of one or two years old. It also gives me a bit of information about the pokemon species." He pointed it at my pokemon and her picture came up on the screen.

_Cyndaquil, the fire mouse pokemon. It's timid and usually stays hunched over. If it is angry or surprised, it shoots flames out of its back. There are no known nests for cyndaquil in the region._

"Oh wow, I didn't know anything like that!" I gasped in amazement of the device.

The professor laughed. "Most people don't; only pokedex holders or professors have them. You know…" he looked at me intently. "You look like a really reliable young trainer, much like my grandson's girlfriend, Violet Vilmos."

"You know Violet Vilmos?" I gasped. She was the most amazing trainer ever. Three years ago, she took down the entire organization of Team Rocket and found her long lost father that disappeared from over five years from now. Her pokemon are the most powerful in both regions of Johto, my home region, and Kanto, her home region; even though she's the strongest, she's refused to go for the Johto championship. She also hasn't been seen for the longest of time since the last time she was challenged over a year or two ago. Her family and friends have probably seen her more often then the public, but I think even they haven't seen her in a while.

"Oh yes, she got her charizard when it was still a charmander from me, she named it Amethyst." He laughed. "Her fire pokemon also blasted me in the face with fire, as well as my grandson, Alex."

"Oh wow…" Alexander Oak was one of the two trainers that ran the Viridian Gym in Kanto after the crime boss leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni and his wife Rose, ran out of the region after Violet defeated them three years ago. Along with Violet's brother, Vincent Vilmos, he and Alex run the gym. They use no specific type of pokemon like other gym leaders do, its what makes them pretty cool and stand out compared to the others.

Professor Oak laughed at my shock and surprise. "Well, I shouldn't keep you much longer then I already have, but if you don't mind, why don't you do me a little favor?"

"What would you like me to do professor?"

He handed me the other two pokedex. "I'd like you and two other trainers to gather all the information in this region about the pokemon that live here to assist Professor Elm's and my research. At the same time, this device will help you learn about pokemon you find and face. Would you be willing to take on this task?"

I gasped at the professor. He really wanted me to handle a task like this? Such an important task? I blinked and looked at the devices in my hands, the crystal, gold and silver colored devices that reflected back my image before I looked back at the professor.

"Sure, should I give the other two to some friends of mine that I know could help me out with that?"

The professor nodded wildly. "Of course! I would love it if you did that for me! Thank you my dear, could you give me your name please?"

"Sure," I stood up and shook his hand with the free one I had while Cynder climbed up onto my shoulder. "I'm Gwyn Jalen."

"Cynda!" Cynder cried out.

"And that's Cynder, my cyndaquil," I introduced her again.

"And I'm glad to have met you Gwyn, Cynder." The professor released my hand before he headed back to his computer and looked toward Mr. Pokemon and the rest of us. "And it was good to see all of you, but I must be getting back to Kanto, do come and visit some time."

"One day we will Professor!" I called out to him as he left.

"Cynda! Cyndaquil!" Cynder called out to him as he left.

"And we'd better get back too," I told Mr. Pokѐmon as I walked out. "We still have to find Aaron and get home, I'm surprised he didn't come by now."

"He's probably lost on the side of the house in the woods, it happens to trainers all the time." Mr. Pokѐmon eased my nerves. "Give him a call first and if you still can't find him, come back and get me, I know these old woods better then the back of my hands!"

"I will do sir, thank you and I'll be sure to get this egg to Professor Elm… Oh! I forgot to ask, do you mind if I pick off some of the apricorns on the tree you have outside?"

"Not at all, take all of them if you want, no one uses them around here. Have a safe journey back!" I waved him good-bye and placed the pokedex of my choice, which was a crystal clue color, in my jeans pocket while I put the other two in my coat pocket to easily give Aaron. I'd decide what to do with the second pokedex when I got the chance.

As soon as I made it outside, I saw that the sun was just starting to set in this region. _Oh, I better call Aaron and find out what happened to him, he normally doesn't get lost like this._ I pulled out my pokegear and dialed up Aaron's number. I decided to fill up my bag with the apricorns in the mean time while I talked with him.

"_Hello?_" I heard him ask on the other end of the line.

"And just where have you been Aaron?" I heard him gulp on the other end.

"_Sorry Gwyn… I got a bit sidetracked…_" I blinked and softened my tone.

"With what?"

"_Pokemon, the area's been littered with them, I caught two and I've been training them all with the wild pokemon here. I caught a pidgey and a weedle._"

"That's cool and all, so I'll meet you back at Cherrygrove unless something happens and I call you again okay?"

"_Sounds fine with me, I'll meet up with you there Gwyn, if not, just head back to town, we'll make it there sooner or later._"

"And leave my best friend behind? I don't think s-" I was about to tell him off about that when I head a beeping on the line, another person was trying to call me. "Hang on Aaron, someone else is trying to reach me. I'll call you back in a second."

"_Okay Gwyn, don't worry about little ol' me._" I rolled my eyes and closed off his call before I opened up the next one.

"Hel-" I didn't even get to finish my sentence.

"_HELP! GYWN! COME BACK OT THE LAB! HELP! THEIF! THEIF! CALL THE POLICE!_"

"Professor!" I called out to him. "Calm down! I'm coming back with Aaron! Call the police!" The line then went dead on me and I quickly ran down the road with Cynder on my shoulder still and hurried back to Cherrygrove while calling Aaron.

"_Hey Gwen! What's u-_"

"No time Aaron! The professor's just been robbed! Something's happening at the lab! Hurry back!" Not bothering to wait on his reply, I hung up and hurried away to the road and burst into Cherrygrove with a faster speed then I knew.

People looked at me strangely as I ran through the city and ran down every alleyway that I could find to get closer to the edge of the small city that would lead me home. Most of the young pokemon that lived in the city thought I was racing someone and decided to chase after me, but I left them in the dust as I rushed away.

I almost fell a few times in my rush to escape the city and get home to make sure the professor and anyone help. My breathing felt heavy as I lept over some large cracks and holes in the road and I tried to pick up any more speed I had in order to get home.

I turned a final corner as the night was beginning to settle in and I suddenly ran into someone. I crashed and was thrown backward; they must have had either a lot of speed or power in order to throw me. I yelped as I hit the ground and groaned as I obtained some wounds, my ankles felt scratched and sore. I looked up and saw him in the lamp light that hung overhead.

I saw he was the same boy that I'd seen this morning peering into Professor Elm's window and that had pushed Aaron. He had also been knocked onto the ground from our impact and looked quite skinny like I was, like it'd been a while since he'd eaten. His coat looked like it hung on him and swayed easily in the wind. His hair covered most of his cold eyes, but when I looked closer, I saw fear in them, worry, he was scared and nervous, but seemed to be putting up this cold front. _Why?_

He quickly got to his feet and felt around in his pockets for anything he may have been dropped. He noticed a pokeball and grabbed that first before he saw the two extra pokedex that I'd had, I never noticed that they'd dropped. I dove for them and he did after me. I made it in time to grab the gold one, but the silver one was gripped tightly in his hands and he jumped away.

"Hey! Give that back!" I snapped at him and Cynder growled on my shoulder.

"You have two of them, I don't see why I can't have one," he snarled back at me. His eyes still tried to give me that cold look, but I could see the regret underneath them.

"Why are you lying to me? You're afraid and upset to take it. I can see the regret in your eyes." The boy stiffened and (lept) back and pulled out his pokeball. He threw it out and from it came the same pokemon I saw earlier in the morning. It was tododile from the lab. It must have been stolen. I couldn't really imagine the professor giving it to him.

"Shut up!" the boys shouted at me and leapt backward. "Tododile, use bubble on her and her pokemon!" The pokemon danced around, I was surprised to see it didn't mind this trainer and obeyed with ease, firing a blast of bubbles at us.

I gasped and backed away from the attack when Cynder (lept) off my shoulder and cried out before she used an ember attack to pop them all. She landed before me and her back lit up in flames. "Cynda! Cyndaquil!"

"Careful Cynder! This guy has the advantage over you!" She twisted her snout in a huffing motion and motioned for the tododile to bring it on.

"Alright then, use scratch Tododile!" the young boy cried out and the water type. Tododile in return, rushed toward Cynder on its tiny legs with its arms extended to the side, its claws ready to swipe.

"Dodge it!" I cried out to my fire type and she easily jumped to the side out of the way. She continued to jump away or over its head and the pokemon quickly tired out from all the running around. "Now use tackle Cynder!"

"Cynda!" My pokemon ran at the tired water type and its tackle threw the pokemon back toward the red haired boy. He hissed as he watched his pokemon fall, but grinned once he saw it easily get to its feet.

_I guess this battle may be tougher then I thought._ I shook my head and looked worriedly at Cynder; she seemed fine for the most part, so I brushed my concerns for her at the moment. The boy on the other hand, wasn't looking away where in my direction; it was easy to pick up that he was nervous about this encounter.

I pulled out my pokedex from my pocket and pointed it at the water type to see if I could learn any information about it to help me. _Tododile, the big jaw pokemon. Its powerful, well developed jaws are capable of crushing anything. Even its trainer must be careful when handling it. It won't hesitate to take a bite out of anything that moves. There are no tododile nests in this region._

_Well, I guess that helped a little. But I'm still at a type disadvantage, so that doesn't help me._ I looked back up to the boy and he finally met my eyes. He nervously darted away, darkening his look before he turned it to me, but it seemed to crumble as soon as I looked at me. I could see his eyes watering up, what was going on with him?

"Stop looking at me like that!" he snapped at me with his watered eyes and a snarl to boot.

"Then why do you look so guilty when you look at me?" I fired back at him.

"Be-I don't have to tell you anything!" He turned to his pokemon. "Tododile, use bubble again!" The water pokemon nodded and fired away at us with a barrage of bubbles. I was shocked with how easily this pokemon obeyed him, it's like they've met before… or something like that, or they have a really strong connection off the bat.

"Deflect it with ember Cynder and then use it again once the vapor clears!" My fire type nodded and blasted away with small specks of fire that popped all the bubbles. Just as the vapor from them all vanished, she fired another set at the water type. It was thrown back from the attack and landed right before its trainer. I tried to get up and continue the fight, but it fell back to the ground with x's over its eyes.

"Damn it!" the boy hissed and returned his pokemon. "I lost…"

"Yes, you did, now give me back what you stole from me and the professor!" Cynder and growled at him and my pokemon blew out puffs of fire to prove her point.

The boy looked back at me with another dark look in his eyes, but this time, they looked very _real_… "I don't care what you say, I may have lost, but I need Tododile and this pokedex to become a strong trainer! And until I achieve my dream, I won't rest or look back on my mistakes!" He pushed past me without another glance and was about to head out of town when he stopped and noticed something. He looked through all his pockets before he looked back at me and I took a step back. I then felt something in my hand that I hadn't felt before, it was behind the golden colored pokedex that was in my hands. It was a card, a trainer card. I looked at the name and saw that the original one was crossed off and another name replaced it in a male's handwriting. But I could still make out nearly three letters from under what was crossed off.

"Hey! That's mine!" The boy leapt at me for it and I jumped back in fright from his shouting. Cynder jumped between us and blew fire at his feet to make him back off. She growled at him and I could tell she was daring him to try and get any closer to me.

"I think I may keep this card." I told him with a glare. "In return for the pokedex and Tododile I'll give it back to you however, deal?"

The boy had to think about if for a moment before he glared at me and jumped toward the woods. "No deal." He was gone in the next second, hidden within the dark trees and forest to conceal him.

I watched him leave and I suddenly felt a weight on my shoulder. I turned my surprise face to Cynder who sat calmly on my shoulder. She'd gave me a worriedly look as she died down the flames on her back so I could touch her without fear of burring myself. I patted her head and looked back to the woods where the boy had run off into.

_Why didn't he try to trade? Doesn't he know that he could be ruined forever if his name gets out? Or what if the police find out his real one with this card?_

"Gwyn!" I was startled from my thoughts and hid the card along with the pokedex in my pocket as Aaron rushed up beside me. His chikorita was out and running beside him and was quite out of breath as Aaron was as they skitted to a stop next to me. He breathed heavily, leaned over onto his knees for a moment before he looked up at me with shocked and worried eyes. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I brushed off his worries_. It's best to keep him from knowing what I have about that trainer; I won't tell him I have his trainer card._ "Sorry, he got away."

"What?" My best friend scratched the back of his head. "What are you talking about Gwyn? Who got away?"

I shook my head and turned to walk down the path back to our home town of New Bark. "Come on, I'll explain what happened on the way home; I assume we'll have to talk to the police too." My best friend blinked before he nervously looked at his pokemon, but quickly obeyed and hurried after me as I stepped into the darkened forest.

**Mystery Boy's Point of View:**

_Man… I thought she and that boy would never leave._ I quickly pulled myself from the trees and bushes that I'd hidden myself in, easily done with my darkly colored clothes, and stayed out of the light of the lamp while the city darkened. While I still had a chance I had to heal Tododile and get some potions and move ahead to the next town, staying here wouldn't help me at all. _I can't believe she took my card too… now the police will know who I am… it won't take them long to recognize my picture or ask Violet for verification, she knows my face like the back of her hand…_

_But that girl, she hid the card away when her friend showed up, why? Why didn't she tell him or show him my trainer card? Does she plan on not showing it to the police?_ I shook my head from these thoughts. It still didn't matter; I still had to get out of there as quick as I could.

I pulled out the pokeball and the pokedex that I'd taken from the lab and that girl. I didn't want to steal… but in order to achieve my dream, I had no choice. No one would freely give me a pokemon or anything if they knew who I was_. I have to show __**her**__ that I'm strong, just like she did when she saved me, and I have to help her stop __**them**__ for good…_

_I hurried off to the pokemon center before I got too far ahead of myself. Of course she'd give the card to the police and run it all, that blue haired girl, which she seemed to be able to read me pretty well, she'd tell… even though it didn't feel like it._

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

It didn't take me long to get back to town with Aaron and explain to him what exactly took place over at Cherrygrove City, though I failed to tell him about the card I still had in my pocket, and I didn't plan to. I planned to figure out what to do about that boy on my own rather then give him away, he looked so lost… the police would only make it worse on him. I think I could help him out, but it's going to take time to earn his trust and get him to think I'm his friend and not his enemy. As much as it would probably hurt Aaron that I didn't tell him, I thought it was for the best, and I would face that punishment when I had to face it.

We soon entered our home town with only seconds to spare as the night settled in. Police cars we could see were parked outside of the professor lab and we hurried up over there. Once we arrived inside, we saw that the professor was unharmed and a few neighbors, including my mother and Aaron's parents were here as well.

"Oh Gwyn!" My mother rushed over to me and took me into her arms. "I'm so glad you're alright!"

"I'm fine Mom; I came running back when the professor called." The woman nodded and released her strong grip on me enough to look around the lab, not much seemed touched other then the broken latch on the lock to the window where I'd seen the red haired boy earlier today and the missing pokeball that belonged to Tododile, the professor's last pokemon he had on hand.

"Gwyn! Aaron!" The professor called the two of us over to him. Aaron left the arms of his parents, that had also tackled him upon arrival, and we hurried over to the professor and a couple police men that were taking notes on what happened at the lab. "Its good to see you two are alright, and your pokemon?"

"Both are fine professor, including the two extra that I caught too," Aaron told him with a hint of proudness in his voice, though the professor seemed to not to notice.

"That's good to hear Aaron, but I'm in a peck of trouble! Tododile was taken!" The professor waved off what Aaron had said and fretted about as he worried over the large jaw pokemon.

"Actually professor… Tododile didn't look upset at all," his eyes and everyone else's enlarged and gaped at me. "It actually looked quite happy to obey its trainer." I looked at Cynder and she nodded to me, gently pushing her nose into my neck to encourage me. I turned back to the others. "I battled Tododile's trainer, or pokemon kidnaper. It actually looked really happy with that boy."

"So you saw him?" The police officer questioned, writing down furiously on his pad.

"Yeah, I did."

"Can you describe him?"

"I'll do the best I can," I sighed and took another deep breath. "He had long red hair that came to his shoulders. It was a very bright red and strait, cut in a couple layers and had a bit of a spikiness to the ends of it. He also wore dark clothing, mostly black and purple and blue. He was white in complexion and had black eyes; he was about my age, maybe a little older. He also seemed…" I paused for a moment, "really upset when I confronted him, but I only did so after I knew he had Tododile when he let it out to attack me in fear."

"That's quite a description miss; we thank you for your help." The police officer tipped his cap to me and was about to leave when I grabbed his arm and held him back.

"…There's more." I couldn't look at anyone in their eyes. "I'd met Mr. Pokѐmon and at his house was a friend of his named Professor Oak. He gave me three pokedex for me and two others to use to help him gather data on pokemon, but this boy stole one from me. It was silver in color."

The police man wrote it all down, an angry huff escaping his mouth, or was I the only one who noticed it? "Is there anything else miss? Like a name for this fellow?"

"…Yes, he dropped his trainer card and I got a look at it before he snatched it from me." I shifted my hands in my pockets around the card and extra pokedex I had on me and sighed. "His name was crossed off, but I was able to make out three letters, two from the first name and one from the last. In his first name, there was a 't' and a 'r', while in the last name there was a 'a'… but he had another name on there. Under his old one, he had 'Silver Vilmos' written."

"Vilmos?" the police officer asked with a light glare. "As in Champion Violet Vilmos or gym leader Vincent Vilmos?"

"Yes, just like their name." I paused again as I thought the name over as I had for the past couple hours. "If you'd like my opinion, I think he's comparing himself to Champion Violet. He doesn't believe he's as powerful as her, which is why he has the name silver, almost as a rank to show he's not at her level, and he took on her last name because he's upset with his life. Thus, his old name was thrown away and his new name is born, Silver Vilmos."

"Very insightful," though the police officer said that, he looked quite annoyed. Though his body posture still showed he was concern, but I could just hear the hint of it in the back of his voice and a dark glint in his eye. _What the heck is going on? I'm smelling some miltank poop in the air, and it doesn't smell too pretty._

"Thank you for everything kids, I'll send this to the base and get started looking for that kid. Enjoy your night." The police man hurried out of there and my mother came over to hold me while we turned back to the professor.

"Don't worry professor, we'll get back Tododile, the police will find them before too long," Aaron told him.

"I hope your right Aaron, I really hope you right." The professor mulled over it and collapsed into his chair. "Now I don't have a pokemon for that kid to take when he comes here in a month."

"I'm sure you'll get another one for him professor, they are many pokemon around so I wouldn't fret." I reached into my bag and pulled out the egg that Mr. Pokѐmon had given me. "Oh, and this is the egg Mr. Pokѐmon wanted me to give you." I handed it to him and the professor looked dumbfounded. "Mr. Pokѐmon had said that he thinks it might be a pokemon not from this region."

"From out of this region… but all this fuss over an egg?" I simply shrugged at his question and I suddenly felt some heat next to my face and watched as Cynder sneezed and blew out a puff of fire toward the professor. He jumped form his spot and cradled the egg in his arms while looking at my pokemon in pure fear.

"Excuse you Cynder," I simply laughed at her. "Just be careful not to blow off another professor's face like you did with Professor Oak's." My pokemon only laughed at that and rolled from my shoulder into my arms and snuggled in them toward my chest. She quieted down and her breathing settled out too. "I guess its time for bed for you too(,) you little misfit. For a cyndaquil, you certainly aren't timid." I grabbed my mother's hand. "Come on Mom, lets go home, I gotta make sure Cynder eats something and then the two of us should probably head to bed before Cynder and I head out in the morning."

"Oh, okay honey. You go ahead and head over; I'll be with you in a minute. I just need to talk some things over with Professor Elm." I released her hand and she smiled at me, but I could feel the worry under her skin and deeply in her heart.

"Okay, I'll meet you at home then." I carried Cynder out of the lab and headed back to my house. The time seemed to past by fairly quickly as I woke Cynder back up to eat something and then head to bed myself. I'd leaned my head on my arm and just below it, against my chest, my pokemon snuggled into me to keep warm. I smiled at her and turned off the lights, dreaming about my adventure, and the boy I knew I was going to help.

**Witch's Note:**

**Alright! Now here we go! This is the first chapter to the second installment of my story series "Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage". For those of you who don't know me (which I hope you do but if not oh well) I am Halloween Witch, and I have a little passion for the Pokѐmon games that I've turned into this five story series. Though a fair warning to those who have yet to read my first story, "Pokѐmon Journey I: Violet's Trial", I'd go back and read that first because this story will carry over information from the first story that if you don't know anything about it, you will be lost and confused.**

**Moving on however, we have a new batch of characters with this story! We have our first main character and our heroine of the story, Gwyn Jalen, who had just begun her pokemon journey with her partner Cynder, the cyndaquil. Also on this journey we have our two other main characters, Gwyn's best friend Aaron Verin and his now three pokemon of Chikorita, Pidgey and Weedle, and our mystery boy named (for the time being) Silver Vilmos and his pokemon (which he stole from the lab) Tododile.**

**Another thing I want to motion is that I refuse to use the new female character they have for this game. They should have remade the first female character "Crystal" in this game rather then create "Lyra", so this is also my tribute to the old character and the first ever female playable character in the pokemon games, an updated version of "Crystal" for this game! Though please don't hate me if you are a Lyra fan, I just think that what the Pokѐmon company did was wrong when they made this new game.**

**I hope you all remember my favorite pass time of getting questions from you for my Q's & A's page (questions and answers) where you ask me and the characters about things that you want answers, now remember, we have a moody person or two this time around, so you best at least ask them one question, or ask more then one at the same time! We all love questions here and we're excited to see you guys send them in! If you still have no idea what I'm talking about, look at the previous story to this one on the very last chapter or some of my older stories for examples.**

**Okay, I've talked off your ears enough and I bet you guys just want another chapter, so I'll get too and get it up by next week! I love you all and hope to see you soon! Don't forget to Review and send in Questions!**

_**Halloween Witch**_


	2. Training Day

_Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage_

_Chapter 2: Training Day_

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

The morning soon came and I stretched when I felt the sun hit my face through my window. I carefully lifted my body and looked down at my still sleeping pokemon. Cynder was still nestled deeply into my side and refused to wake up, even with the sun upon her body. I shook her gently as to not startle her awake and she tilted her head back at me tiredly.

"Come on you sweet little misfit, breakfast time." She tiredly rolled over and curled back into bed, the spot where she'd been sleeping where my warmth was still spread. I shook my head at her. "Fine, I'll go make us breakfast, but if your not up in a bit, I'm going to take you out of here by force and head out." She promptly sighed and went back to sleep while I laughed at her, shaking my head in disbelief.

"Alright then…" I stood up from my bed and changed out of my bed clothes and into my trainer clothes before heading downstairs to greet an empty kitchen. I blinked at the scene in shock; my mother was always practically in here, or the living room, what reason did she have to leave so early? It was so out of tradition at our home.

I walked into the kitchen and started to get some things out to eat when I noticed that there were pancakes for both Cynder and myself, pecha berry flavored. There was also a note next to them which I picked up to read while pouring syrup on my pancakes.

_Dear Gwyn,_

_I'm sorry I had to leave so suddenly honey, but something came up that needed me to leave home. I made you breakfast and there's a lunch and dinner packed for you in the fridge for both you and Cynder so hopefully you two don't have to buy any food for at least today, other then drinks._

_Oh, and Aaron told me to tell you that he was planning on sleeping in a bit with his pokemon before training with them on route thirty, and to not wait up for him. He said he'd meet you in Violet City by tomorrow at the latest._

_I hope you and Cynder have a wonderful time, be careful and give me a call every now and then. If you want me to keep your money safe, just left me know and I'll have you transfer it to me every now and then._

_Good luck Honey!_

_Mom_

I was already a quarter of the way through my breakfast when I finished the note. "I guess this will give Cynder and I some time on our own to practice by ourselves and get more time then Aaron if he plans to sleep in." I snickered to myself. "Sounds like fun."

I soon heard the little pitter patter of feet above and watched as my little misfit walked down the stairs and jumped up into my lap. She curled up there, still slightly tired. She yawned once she made it to me and tried to fall back asleep.

"Hey! Don't fall back asleep Cynder! We're gonna go out and train!" The pokemon didn't seem to move much at my words. I rolled my eyes. "Well… if you really want to sleep more I guess I get to eat your pecha berry pancakes that my mom left for you."

_I suddenly felt my lap was empty…_

I laughed as my little fire type misfit climbed up onto the table with an alertness I didn't know she had and she munched away at her pancakes. I took only a moment to shake my head and eat my own before I placed our dishes in the sink to soak and gathered my things for our training day and our short journey to Violet City. I sighed and stretched before I stood and felt a weight on my shoulder, Cynder, with a mouth covered in syrup, hung over my shoulder, still wobbly from waking up recently. She certainly wasn't an earlier riser.

"Cynder! You're going to get a mess all over me!" I chided her and quickly grabbed a dampened rag and whipped her mouth before syrup could fall upon my clothing. She seemed not to care as I whipped the syrup away, all she did was curl into my shoulder and try to fall back asleep, but not before she fell forward into my arms.

"Hang on Hon; I'll carry you in a second." With all my items in my bag or pockets, I quickly put our lunches into my bag and closed it up before taking my fire type into my arms. I left a note to match my mother's that she'd left me to tell her when I'd left and how to reach me should she feel the desire or the if she needed to. I then shifted my little misfit of a fire type in my arms before I stepped out the door with her, helping her curl in my jacket to keep warm with the strong breeze from my home town kicking in.

The smell of burning wood carried lightly on the wind, colder weather was settling in and soon snow would entirely cover the region in a thick blanket, a couple of the only places being spare would probably be Cianwood City and Azalea Town. Johto was a much hardier region then Kanto was, it had many mountains and thick woods, it was always cold here and rarely got much above the temperature of seventy, with the exception of those towns I listed a moment ago which got weather like our sister region Kanto did.

When it becomes winter here, it can be pretty harsh, which is why I'm thankful I live in a section of the region where it's a bit warmer then the icy areas north that always seemed to have frost on their grass and trees for at least three of the seasons during the entire year, and that's most of it if I remember correctly. Though winter has been a little harder on my mother and I for the past few years with it only being the two of us around the house now, and now it's being limited even further to one. It made me guilty that she'd be all alone now after what's taken place, but she wouldn't want me to stick around forever.

Thinking upon these kinds of memories of the cold and isolation, loneliness, it made me hurry to grasp the golden locket that hung gently around my neck that I'd almost forgotten yesterday when I'd left, and now I was grateful to have come back so I could have it now rather then later. The locket was a present from my father, one that was supposed to be given to me when I started my journey, but three years ago, he vanished without a trace. My mother then decided she would give me my locket earlier then planned, just to give me some comfort with his disappearance. I missed him terribly…

It almost reminds me of the story of what happened to Champion Violet Vilmos' father, Haze Vilmos. He also disappeared for a while before Violet started her journey. It gave me hope that like her father, mine was just hiding away, or is trapped somewhere and waiting for rescue. I preyed daily for his return, his safety, and for him to just be alive so he can come back. But as the years slowly passed by, my hopes had nearly depleted, only a small sliver of hope remained in my heart, which was only solemn wishing for the likelihood that one day he'd return home.

I shook my head and pressed the thoughts away, thinking of my missing father wouldn't help me becoming a powerful trainer, and my father wouldn't want me to dwell on him, getting in the way of my dream. I sighed and felt the weight overtake my body as I trudged on out of my hometown and into the woods on route twenty-nine.

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"Let's go Cynder! Ember!" My fire type was wide awake now, as she had been for the past many hours we'd spent training over the past couple routes. We'd been well at training and now it's too the point where Cynder had little to no trouble at all with the pokemon here, taking them out in a hit or two only. Bug pokemon fled when they saw us and to keep them from being afraid of us forever, we didn't challenge them anymore.

Cynder was really starting to enjoy all the battling, she loved moving about and spouting fire here and there, I'm sure she'd be even more excited in the future when she'd learn more powerful fire type moves, or any type of move that would asset her in battle.

The pidgey that we were facing was hit by the fire that spouted from Cynder's mouth and cried out in pain before it hurried off back its nest in the tree. It began to lick away its wounds and stared at us. Cynder shook her head and turned back to me before jumping up onto my shoulder.

"Cynda!" She laughed at the pidgey in the tree and it suddenly screeched. The next thing I knew, a large flock of pidgeys and angrily woken hoothoots were up in the air and speeding down at us.

My eyes widened and I pulled Cynder into my arms. "Well… you've really done it now Cynder…"

"Quil…" my pokemon rubbed the back of her head before the pokemon started to dive at us. I screamed and Cynder cried out before I jumped backward and then booked it into the forest. I dived to the sides as I ran to avoid the bird pokemon that kept trying to tear us limb from limb as we hurried away from them.

"Don't you ever laugh at wild pokemon that can call on flocks again Cynder!" I snapped at my little fire misfit pokemon as my breathing became harsher from the running I was putting in.

Cynder didn't give me a reply as I made my way from route thirty into route thirty-one. I saw one of the mountains come into view and I remembered that there was a cave that lead from here to the north east. I could hid in the entrance since it always was dark until the pokemon pass, those hoothoot are too tired to stick around for long, and then soon after the pidgey would probably leave too when they got tired or saw I wasn't coming out.

I made a dash for the cave entrance near a small pond where I saw a young woman was resting against the rocks with two pokemon with her, curled up into her body. "Hey! Don't sleep there! There's an angry flock of pidgey and hoothoot heading your way!" The woman seemed not to hear me and I put on the breaks to my feet. _Man… does she have a death wish? Those pokemon will kill her!_

I finally saw the woman tip up her head as the bird pokemon came closer before she put down her head again to resume her nap. I groaned and Cynder cried out, almost falling out of my arms. "Are you serious? Get out of the way! We can hide in the cave!"

I saw the woman sigh and she rose to her feet. The pokemon that had been sleeping on her lap slowly got to its feet while the other remained on the woman's shoulder napping, not taking any notice of the situation.

"You really shouldn't worry so much over small things such as these." I gasped and turned to the woman who stood calmly next to the entrance to the cave. She turned her eyes to look at me while she put the hood of her jacket over her head and her eyes had me captured. They were a liquid, chocolate brown, and a dark chocolate I mean, that just caught me in the moment and I froze from the amazing difference between the white of outer color of her eyes compared to them.

"Cynda!" I snapped out of my daze when Cynder told me to look up at the sky. Before I had, I noticed that the area was much darker, but it had only been sunny a moment ago. I looked up to the clouds and saw black storm clouds rolling in, lighting and thunder crashing in-between them.

"Wh-what's going on?" I looked back at the woman who didn't seem to have moved at all, nor did the weather above concern her. "We don't get thunderstorms in Johto! Not in this part of the region unless its summer! What's happening?"

"Relax, thunder storms, fire storms, ice storms... they're all quite common when I'm in the area." The woman glanced to the side, showing me the bright whites of her eyes. "Amber, get rid of the flock."

Her pokemon that was on the ground, its cheeks sparked and its tail started waving around like a pinwheel. She suddenly threw it into the ground and lighting raced up into the clouds above, from her body, before it charged the clouds even more then they were before and it all came crashing down upon the large flock of bird pokemon that had been chasing after Cynder and I. I heard screeches and screams from the sky above as the birds were hit, but suddenly I was grabbed by the hand and brought forward into the woman's arms. She hid my face and most of my body into her chest, covering my eyes and ears to protect me from the shock wave blast behind us that dropped from the sky. A shock wave passed by us from the attack and I could feel it in the air.

I could feel my heart racing in my head and every inch of my body, but the woman's… her heart, I could barely hear it, but what I did hear was a calm and steady beat. She was entirely relaxed in this moment; her only concern may have been for myself and my pokemon. She refused to release me even as she turned her own head to look back at the flock as well as her pokemon that was asked to deal with them.

She finally allowed me to pull back, but wouldn't give me enough space to look out over her shoulder as past her large jacket to look at the flock. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, sorry about bringing that on you so suddenly." I nodded slowly to her. "Cynder, my cyndaquil, and I were training and we'd beaten one of the pidgey and Cynder laughed at it since it was all bitter at us for beating it, then it screeched and called out an entire flock of more pidgey and hoothoot to attack us, they chased us all the way from route thirty." I tired to calm my quick beating heart, but it started right back up again when I heard the many cries of pokemon from behind the young woman. "Wait," she paused and waited for me to finish. "Those don't sound like angry cries…"

"Hm?" The woman looked back over her shoulder before she finally released me from her tight grip. I finally was able to look back at the pokemon that were escaping from the field and I watched as they had fearful looks on their faces every time they looked back. The pokemon that belonged to the young woman who had shocked them all and scared them off was swinging its tail around and slamming it into the ground, showing off its power and strength to the pokemon who dared to look back at it.

"Nice job Amber." The young woman told her pokemon and it in return looked back at her with a devilish smile before it ran back up to her and jumped into her shoulder. She didn't even flinch when it landed and she took down her hood, letting loose her long, curly hair that seemed a dark brown in color with tips of all ends of her hair, even her bangs that were pulled off to the side, were all colored a neon purple color.

The young woman looked back to me. "You need to be more careful Hon; those pokemon will take a bite out of you if you're either naive or not strong enough."

"Sorry, I'll be more careful next time." I lowered my head from her gentle gaze.

I suddenly heard the woman snort and she then burst out laughing. Her pokemon really had to hold on so they didn't fall off her shoulders. Tears strolled down from her eyes to her chin in laugher while I blinked at her in surprise.

"Oh, I needed a good laugh like that to make my day!" She whipped away her tears and took a deep breath as she looked back at me and tried to calm herself down. "So Hon, you got a short while? I'd love to talk with you."

"Talk with me?" I tilted my head in confusion. "About what?"

"Oh… just a few things, and to get to know you better." She gave me a wild grin, showing off her pearly whites beneath her reddish pink lips. "You're very…"

"Very what?"

"Very… extraordinary."

"But there's nothing special about me, and you're the one who sent off that flock."

"Well… I did, but that doesn't mean anything." She grinned and reached into my front pocket, pulling out the card of the young male trainer I'd met yesterday that I hadn't given to the police. "I'd like to know why you kept this and didn't give it to the police."

"Give that back!" I darted forward but the woman quickly leapt out of the way. "Its mine!"

She suddenly then turned a bit serious on me. "Why didn't you give it to the police or give it back to that boy?"

I pouted my lip at her as I continued to try and get it. "Personal reasons!"

"Then let's have a chat, I want to know those reasons since I'm also worried for that boy." She stopped moving and stilled her hands, allowing me to rip the trainer card out of them. She was giving me a worried look as she gazed to the picture of the boy on the card.

"…Do you know him?" Her eyes never left the picture as she sighed and patted her pokemon's head that rested around the back of her neck.

"Yes… here, sit down and we'll talk. It's about lunch time and I have some extra food if you want any." She sat down on the ground and her pokemon jumped off of her to eat, but all three of them waited on me to sit and release my pokemon from my arms. I sighed and did so, giving into the woman's offer.

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

We chatted for a long while, a bit of avoiding the subject about the boy that she was so curious about. I learned from her that her name was Violet; she'd been a trainer for almost four years now and has a brother and boyfriend back in Kanto. Her clothing that she wore to go with her wild hair and pretty hot body for a sixteen year old girl was a black jacket that had lots of black, fluffy warmth inside it that looked a bit old, but it was still holding strong. She had on under it a silky maroon colored spaghetti strap shirt that had a v cut between her breasts and had lavender pokadots all over it with a bit of frill at the bottom of it. Her pants were only a short pair of indigo jean shorts and her legs were covered with a set of black boots that came up to almost her knees. Over her shoulder was a tan bag that she had on her and on her finger was a very beautiful ring that was covered in gem stones that I _knew_ I couldn't name even if I tried.

Her pokemon, other then the ones she had out already didn't want to come out and meet me, so she had to settle with only introducing the others, one of them being Chalcedony, her umbreon with a very calm attitude and an extreme liking to girls, human and pokemon, while he hates most males other then the other male pokemon on her team, her male pokemon at home or her boyfriend. The other one was named Amber, she was a raichu. She was the one who freaked out and just took down that entire flock of bird pokemon that was flying right at me. She didn't tell me much more then that about herself, which probably meant she just didn't want to talk, or maybe some other reason, but whatever the case, I wasn't about to pry in on her life if she didn't want to get to into it, so I left it be.

"So, now that we have introductions and basics out of the way, I'd like to talk at least a little bit about that boy you met, if you don't mind that is." Violet questioned me gently.

"Well, if you don't mind, before that, do you mind telling me a bit more of how you know him and how you saw me keep the card?" I asked her back. "And your not going to tell the police right?"

"No, no, not at all, I figured you had a good reason for doing what you did, but it just intrigued me that you didn't give it to them, or that Tristan didn't want the card back enough for the items he took."

"Tristan? Is that his name?"

"…Yes, poor Tristan had a really rough upbringing so he had to run away from home. The reason why I know him is because I helped him get away, but them something came up and someone mentioned an orphanage to him and he took off, never to be seen again before that day, at least, not by me." She sighed and looked away from me for a moment, looking at the card that she'd asked for a short while ago to confirm his picture. "Tristan is very fragile, after yesterday, I knew he was even more confused and broken inside, but for the most part, he looked happy to have his freedom for the first time in his life."

"That's so sad…" Cynder rubbed her body against my arm and I petted her as she grieved in her own way like I was for the boy. "But what's making him steal? He's stolen Tododile from Professor Elm's lab and a pokedex that Professor Oak gave me to trust with someone of my choosing."

"That I don't really know." She raised her finger to her chin, tapping it gently as she thought, mindlessly rubbing the chin of her dark type that relaxed on her shoulders. He peaked through an eye at us, remotely showing me that he was focusing on the conversation at hand while relaxing with the warmth of his trainer. "I'd have to ask him to find out, but I doubt he'd talk with me anytime soon."

"Why is that?"

"He's afraid that I'd turn him into the police." She looked up at me and handed me back the card. "Hold onto that Hon, don't loose it, one day you'll need to return that to him."

"I will." I took the card in hand and placed it with my own in my bag in my wallet. I paused then as I was putting it in the back of the wallet pockets. "Wait, what about his last name? Do you know what it is Violet?"

"Yes, but I think it might be best to keep that fact hidden until he tells you himself or until you need it." She stretched in her spot and leaned back, careful not to hurt her pokemon that was relaxing on the back of her neck. "So why did you not give Tristan's card to the police?"

"I just… thought I could help him. I thought that the police would only make things worse for him, so I just gave them all the information I had without giving them the card."

She tilted her head and raised one of her brows. "So how many people know you have the card, or pokemon for that matter too?"

"Only you and your pokemon, and Cynder. Oh! And Tristan too, or should I say Silver Vilmos? Since that's what he had written down on the card."

"Vilmos?"

"Yeah, as in Champion Violet Vilmos or gym leader Vincent Vilmos, you know them right? From Kanto?"

She raised both her eyebrows at me in total and utter shock.

"Uh… yeah, I know of them." She clapped her hands once together and let them hang over her knee that rose up before her and she placed her arms on it. "Never met either of them though."

"Well, I didn't really expect that." I shrugged at her. "I mean, Violet's hardly been seen over the past couple years, not since her last battle a while back against that guy, I can't even remember his name right now. And Vincent lives all the way back in Kanto, but he's not quite as famous as his sister, but he does get a lot of public because he's young and hot for a guy at only sixteen, and his partner at the gym doesn't do too bad himself either, Alexander Oak." I snorted a laugh. "But I don't think too many girls would go after him since Violet would burn their butts off!"

Violet snorted a laugh too before she nodded and her laughing came on harder. "Yes! Oh yes she would!"

We laughed for a short while longer before I noticed the time from my pokegear, which showed me it was almost five and it was ringing, Aaron was trying to get a hold of me. Violet quieted right down and looked over at my pokegear and watched me answer it.

"Hello?"

"_Gwyn! Where you are you?_" Aaron called from on the other side. "_I've been waiting here at Violet City's pokemon center for an hour or two now and you've yet to show up!_"

"Oh? So you can be late to get up in the morning and then tell my mother to tell me that I can arrive there when ever I want, yet you expect me to be there before five?" My lips curled to one side of my face as I waited on his answer, which I hope he thought over very carefully.

"_Uh… no comment?_"

"Not quite the answer I was looking for."

"_Uh… sorry?_"

I sighed. "Close enough; just let me finish up her on the route and I'll meet you over there. Good-bye Aaron." I hung up on him before he could say another word and I looked back over to Violet. "I am so sorry about him, but I gotta go meet him or else he'll freak."

"Don't worry about it Hon, here," she reached into her pocket and pulled out a couple pieces of paper before she took out a pen, signing something on one of the pieces before she handed the pen and the other paper to me. "Write down your number and I'll program it into my pokegear so you can reach me any time you'd like some advice, just like to talk, or if you happen to run into Tristan."

"Oh yeah! Sure!" I easily took the items she handed to me and I wrote down my number on the paper she gave me before I gave them back to her. She then gave me the paper she'd written on and I gave her a grin as I placed it into my pocket and stood up. "Well, it was nice meeting you Violet, thanks for everything, and I'm still really sorry about that flock of pidgey and hoothoot."

She waved it off. "Hon, let it go! I already said it was okay and I've faced much worse." She shook her head before she gave me a look like one I'd seen earlier today, which surprised me, it was that look that captured me in her trance and I had no idea how she did it. "You don't know what a real battle is like yet, but you will…"

She blinked and I felt her control over me for the moment was gone. I nodded to her, saying a final good-bye before I carried Cynder away to meet up with Aaron. _Is it just me, or was she hinting to something?_

**Chalcedony's Point of View:**

Our human sister had been shocked by not only hearing of the human boy she'd been chasing after for three years now, but also that when she met this girl, she said there was something off about her. Violet seemed quite taken with her and had us, or she did herself, follow her around to see what she was doing, especially after what she saw happen yesterday with Tristan and her battling. It sparked something in our human sister's eyes that I hadn't seen for a long time.

Our sister led us away to a remote part in the mountains, a slight ways north of where we were a few moments ago with the young girl named Gwyn and her cyndaquil named Cynder. She had refused to release all of us before to prevent us from being found (since two of my eldest sisters, Amethyst and Sapphire, were dead giveaways for our human sister) but now that we were alone, she released everyone so we could have our lunches and talk.

"I am so shocked that she didn't know who I was, have I really changed that much? Is my hair really that much darker?" Our human sister was shocked at the obliviousness of the child she'd met when it came to who she was and putting fame to face with Violet, though she seemed to notice almost every detail of emotion in a person's face, every line meant something to that Gwyn girl, and it was strange, but it seemed to help her out in some spots.

"I know! I mean, how could she, like, not noticed you or know who you were when she saw you?" Amber told her in a rush. "It's so strange! Though it was nice to have a change…"

"I agree, and she was quite nice, she got over being mad at you pretty quick Violet." My human sister looked over at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you sure you didn't get along with her just because she was a pretty young trainer Chalcedony? I know that's what attracted you to me!" My human sister caused me to blush at her comment and I was thankful my fur was so dark that no one could see the red under it on my skin. I huffed at her and turned away, curling into her hood.

"Oh come now, leave Chalcedony alone Violet," Ruby snorted a laugh even as she tried to save me. "Haven't you humiliated him enough for the day?"

"Thanks Ruby, love you too…" Everyone laughed at my embarrassment and I felt Violet stroke my cheek.

"Calm down Chalce, I meant no harm, just a few laughs!" She giggled and released me from her comfy petting fingers. She calmed down and pulled out the number of that girl Gwyn and added it to her device she called pokegear to call other humans with, which didn't have any, again what she called, numbers yet, mind you. "Still, have I really changed that much? I didn't think I have…"

"Not much at all for us to noticed," Amethyst scratched the side of her own chin with a confused look. "You still have the same happy grin I've seen you with since we started our journey. You still have the same laugh and smile."

"Though your physical traits have changed a bit since you were crowned champion with the rest of us," Sapphire said softly, her voice soft like the snow. "Your hair is darker now from your father's genetics, and you've gone and dyed the ends of the hair purple."

"You've also curled it," Ruby threw in. "You're known for your straight hair compared to curly, though I would have thought that people would have still been able to recognize you. Other then your hair and that you've grown into quite the young woman among humans, I don't believe it would be that hard to tell."

"I don't think that Sissy Violet changed at all!" Zircon told her in his now fully evolved form of dragonite that occurred from the three years of training we've had. "You're still just as pretty and nice as the day you adopted me!"

"Thanks Zircon, that's so sweet of you to say." Our dragon type brother curled his head right up against her and she rubbed his large snout. "I wonder though…" she sighed as she thought. "Can she do the impossible and help Tristan?"

"She seems very determined," I told our human sister. "She had my vote; I think she can do it."

"I think so too, there's something a bit off about her that reminds me slightly of you Vi," Amber told her as well. "I think over time she'll crush his composure and get him to open up, or hold him long enough so we can approach him ourselves and try to set things strait."

"I hope so Amber, I really do." She sighed and leaned back against the rock. "You know what guys? I feel like having a nap."

"But Violet!" Ruby argued. "You just had one!"

"Yeah, I know, but I was rudely interrupted from it by a flock of fucken angry bird pokemon who shouldn't have bothered that girl in the first place." She pulled her hood over myself and her head. "Besides, while the sun's still up and warming the air, I want to catch some of those lasting rays before the cold evening hits." All my siblings groaned at her except for Amethyst who curled right up next to our human sister.

"Fine by me, I'm still tired."

I curled back into the warmth of her neck. "And I don't mind staying right where I am and being lazy…"

"Oh you're lazy alright." Ruby shook her head at us before she turned to the others. "Does anyone want to train with me?"

"I'll take you on Ruby!" Amber bound forward for the battle.

"Can I just take a nap with Sissy Violet, Sissy Sapphire?" Zircon questioned Sapphire.

"I have no qualms with that; I'll simply train or watch Ruby and Amber." The icy bird nested into the ground and watched as the steel and bug type pokemon faced off against the electric one. While they battled it out, I felt a sleepy aura fall over me, thinking nothing of it, since this happens so often during the day; I let myself drift to sleep in the comfort and warmth of my siblings.

**Third Person Point of View:**

Far away in a city to the far nothing, one of the coldest cities in the region that lived south of a large lake and west and east to mountain ranges and icy caves, a secret hideaway was hidden beneath the ground, but still had connections all over the region. It was below this city, its entrance hidden in such a commercial place that no one would dare to look.

We journey now to the depths and the deepest parts of this base where people are running about; checking their operations and not one member down here was flocking about. There was too much work to do and few hands to do it then in the past, even though the operation was growing larger like it had been before, it was still to up to tempo as it had been. The boss of this base was much stricter then her husband had ever been. Compared to three years ago, she was dressed in a white, long skirt and a button up shirt compared to the other members, especially the female, with a medium sized 'R' on her left breast. Unlike three years ago, her hair was released and wild, red as a raging fire with orange highlights to assist the look of flames upon her head. Her boots were black and could be seen going all the way up to her upper legs, nearly at her hips, seen through the large cut in on the side of her long skirt on either side of it that went up to her hips. Her shirt was long all the way around and covered over in a second layer over her skirt, but was slip open to see I triangle of skin below her breasts, and above. Three buttons closing the shirt to keep her covered, but it wasn't like she cared who saw her "unmentionables" so long as she got what she wanted.

This woman was looking over her papers and what not when another woman stepped inside with another male, both seemed to be a bit more high ranking with the individual touches to their clothes, and the woman's was somewhat similar to her boss'.

"We just received news from one of our spies in the Johto police department Ma'am," the woman said. She set down the file before her boss on the desk. "It was about a report on your son."

"My son? That bastard of a brat who dared leave such a wonderful and powerful organization?" the woman rolled her eyes as she looked at the file she was already reading and disregarded the one on her son.

"We thought you would like to know that he's stolen a few important things, including a rare pokemon called tododile and a pokedex from a young girl that was carrying them for Professor Oak of Kanto," the male said. This seemed to intrigue the woman and she closed the file before opening the newest one on her desk, the one about her son.

"Bah!" She threw the file at her workers and they slightly flinched when she did so. "He isn't even worth it! He changed his name to 'Silver Vilmos'! He's still head over heels for that damn brat that ruined us years ago and sent my husband and I packing!"

"We thought you would like to know since your brother wanted to try to bring him back to the organization." The woman glared up at the two of them.

"Razi wants to bring him back in eh?" She threw the file of her son into the trashcan. "Let the fool do what he wants, but I won't be bothered, that brat would have to beg me to get him into this organization again."

"But Ma'am, that pokedex he stole gives out information about nearly all pokemom in the region, if not the world, giving locations and specifics on them, which we're having a hard time with working on right now, having a device like that would greatly help us, even if we only tricked him as to stealing it from him."

This intrigued the woman. "A device such as that really exists?"

"Yes Ma'am, even Violet Vilmos and her two friends have one, ever since the start of their journey. I remember some of the old members talking about how she would point it at some of the rare pokemon we had every now and then and they were confused by it." The male member told her while he handed her another file. "None of the professors that hand out these devices ever keep an extra on hand since they fear it will be stolen, so its only been given to the trainers while their professor's personal notes are locked away. We know of six trainers right now that have this kind of device, Violet Vilmos, Vincent Vilmos, Alexander Oak, Gwyn Jalen, Aaron Verin, and your son, Tristan Agustino." He flipped through the file some more. "Our best options, if I may state that to you Ma'am?" The red haired woman nodded her head and he nodded back before looking at the file. "Our best option would be to hit up one of the new trainers that have this device since they're only beginning trainers, so it's safe to say it would be easy to take such a device from them. From the information we've gathered so far, both your son and Gwyn Jalen only have one pokemon, while Aaron Verin has three."

The woman placed down the file in her hands to think. "More pokemon to face would make for a longer battle and create a mess or us being caught too soon before our plans take off. Plan to attack the girl or my son when seen and get the device from them, or if possible the boy, but try not to fight him unless the battle can be quick."

"We'll get right to it Ma'am." Both of the admins before her saluted the woman before walking out of her room and leaving her once again at peace. She stood up from her desk and walked over to the mirror, upon her smooth and cream colored like skin was a scar that traced all the way from her chin and over her eye to her forehead, the left side of her face had been scared like that since three years ago when she had her last show down with Violet Vilmos and that was her last mark to stay with this woman for her life time.

"You better watch out Violet Vilmos," the woman talked to herself and looked over the old file about the girl she'd collected information about over the years. She then pulled out a new file and placed the picture of Gwyn Jalen inside it. "And yourself now too Gwyn Jalen, I'm going to crush all of you who oppose me."

**Witch's Note:**

**Wow! Here's the next chapter and now that was much longer then I thought it would be! Not bad at all! Though I am a bit concerned about how you guys think how Gywn and Violet met and their conversation, I hope you all tell me what you think. (Especially since Gywn didn't know that Violet was Violet Vilmos! What the hell is up with that? What is wrong with her?)**

**And oh boy, look who just came back into the picture! We have an old enemy that we're now going to be dealing with and her organization. I don't think I need to tell you her name, cuz I think you all know it by heart now, but I'll say it anyway. The meanest and cruelest woman alive in my story, Rose Agustino! And she now sees Gwyn as an obstacle!**

**Uh oh… what do you think is going to happen? Well, I better get started on the next chapter, so I'll let you guys go to milk this chapter over and let me know what you think in a Review or PM! And please don't forget to send in Questions for me and the characters! We love to do that!**

**Love you all and see you next week!**

_**Halloween Witch**_


	3. The Sprout Tower & Gym

_Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage_

_Chapter 3: The Sprout Tower & Gym_

**Gywn's Point of View:**

I caught up with Aaron later that night by about six and he was still worried as hell, pacing in the front lobby with Nurse Joy trying to calm him down. I hit him across the head when I finally caught up with him and told him to stop making others worried. He told me about his day and how strong his team was now, since bug types are practically the easiest and quickest to evolve out of most all pokemon, his weedle had already evolved when I finally got to meet it. It was a kakuna now which was a sort of dirty yellow color with black eyes. His pidgey on the other hand looked quite plump for a pidgey, either Aaron been really feeding it or it was like this when Aaron caught it.

We went to bed early that night, wanting to battle at some place called the "Sprout Tower" tomorrow, at the most northern point of the town. Its apparently a good place to train before heading to the gym here in town, since some people at the tower work with grass and flying types, and to boot, flying types are what the gym leader uses here in this city, so that's a plus.

I ended up sharing a room with Aaron that night, but I told him that if I got up before him and he didn't wake up with one waking call from me, I was leaving him there while I went off to the tower. Morning came and after the wake up call I gave him, only his pokemon were awake, not him. I took them down to eat breakfast with me and Cynder while Aaron slept before I let them go back to the room and then headed out into the city.

Violet City actually was a bit of a contrast between old Japanese culture and buildings made entirely out of wood with arches and designs everywhere while incorporating some of the modern-day buildings, including the gym, pokemon center and shopping center. The houses and any other building were either one or the other here, but it was pretty cool to see the contrast.

With Cynder nestled in my arms, I traveled to the tallest building in the entire town, the Sprout Tower. It was a larger older style building that had the Japanese flare of the curved edges with each level of the tower, even to the top. It looked pretty breathtaking with its dark colors and the swaying center pillar I saw moving through the doors as I approached it. Cynder was quite amazed but it as well.

"Cyndaquil cynda?" she asked me as we approached the entrance to the tower.

"I think so, I know we were told that we can battle in here, but I'm just not sure how since I don't want to wreck this wonderful building." Cynder agreed with me as I carried her in and instantly was met with the dimmer lighting from the closed up tower. Candles were lit all over the place and it was nice to see that that. Men in what seemed to be sage cloaks of some sort were littered about the place with showing people around, but it seemed that many of them were turned away from the stairs. I tilted my head to the side in confusion and approached the man.

"Excuse me?" The bald man sage turned to me with a soft smile on his face. "Why exactly are you continuing to turn people away from these stars?"

"Ah, that is because today is not a tourist day for people to look through the tower. Today is a battle day," he explained to me. "Only trainers who wish to face off against the sages of the tower may go upward. We do this and not allow tourists up because some of our sages and pokemon that live above may mistake them for a trainer and it gets a bit… ugly in appearance. If you are a trainer, you are welcome to journey to the top and battle our sensei, if not, please remain on the bottom floor and enjoy the tower."

"I'm a trainer; I'd like to face the tower."

"Ah! Wonderful! Step right up the stairs, and a warning to you," he placed a hand on my shoulder and looked at me with powerful eyes like Violet had, but not as strong as her so I didn't feel as trapped in their gaze. "Enemies will be around every corner, so be prepared to fight."

I nodded to him. "I got it." He kept looking in my eyes and I was beginning to freak out internally by it before he finally let my shoulder go and allowed me up the stairs. I hurried up them and didn't look back at him.

But Cynder did. She jumped out of my arms and onto the stairs before she blew fire at his face. The guy wobbled on his feet before he fell over, burnt and knocked out. She huffed at him before she made her own way up the stairs. I rubbed the back of my head, relieved that Cynder took the step that I was unable to do.

"Thanks Cynder." My pokemon looked up to me and shrugged as if it was no big deal. She caused me to laugh and I picked her up into my arms and carried her up the rest of the way to the second floor.

As soon as I stepped up there though, I nearly fell backward when I saw a man come out to battle me. He raced forward to pull me back up and safely away from the stairs. Once I was away from them, he pulled out a pokeball, throwing out his pokemon, a bellsprout.

"Let's go then Cynder!" My cyndaquil nodded and leapt out of my arms and landed before us on the ground, ready to take down the now shivering grass type pokemon when it saw I had a fire type pokemon. "Ember!"

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"Wow, these sages really like bellsprouts don't they?" Cynder shook her head as she and I walked on the highest level of the tower to battle the sensei or head sage here. Most of the pokemon these sages really had were bellsprout, which, I hate to say this, was extremely easy to beat and didn't provide much help for Cynder to get stronger. My first gym battle is with a _flying_ type gym leader, not a grass one. I didn't see how this training would help us. Cynder was getting quite tired of facing the same pokemon and if we didn't find a real challenge quick, I think we might not have as good of a chance to beat the gym leader in town as we would've with more training against the actual type we were going to face off against.

I suddenly heard a crash up ahead; I felt it in the structure of the tower. I looked up to the area before us and there was Tristan, a calm and relaxed look on his face for once compared to the fearful one I've seen before. Tododile was out before him and was dancing about over its victory before Tristan returned it to its pokeball.

_It's probably best that I don't say his real name here; he might attack someone in rage and fear._ I sighed to myself. _So that means that it's Silver Vilmos…_

"Silver!" My voice rang out into the room and caught the boy's attention. He turned back to me in a rush and in surprise that when his dark eyes met mine, I was momentarily frozen. _You know, its kinda scary how bright his eyes look, they look really… amazing to me. Wait, what?_ I shook myself free of my gaze and sudden through when that single sentence passed through my mind.

He seemed to blink out of his own frozen gaze at me as well before he freaked and blasted away from the elder and toward me. Cynder growled and puffed out fire at him as he got closer, but as he got in really close, he booked it to the side and sped down and out of the tower.

"Wait! Silver!" I called out to him, yet he didn't seem to respond. He just kept running until he was out of sight and gone. "Darn it!" I stomped my foot in frustration.

"He has quite the way of 'not talking', doesn't he?" I turned my head to look at the elder sage that was dressed in a brighter set of robes compared to the other men that mostly wore grey and black compared to his yellow and purple. He had no hair on his head, but he had a very long beard on his face and was slightly hunched over as he stood next to me.

"I think he's just really afraid of people." I shrugged my shoulders at the man and Cynder climbed up to them to sit there, watching the man closely. I patted her head. "Relax Cynder; he's not going to hurt me."

"Quite, I only approached you since you are a trainer if you have journeyed this far and I wished to see if you wanted to have a battle with me." The man laughed lightly at my fire pokemon. "Your cyndaquil seems to be much of a misfit and protector of yourself. She cares deeply for you, even for the short amount of time it seems you have been together."

"How can you tell that?"

He winked at me. "It's an old sage trick; I'm not allowed to tell, plus, that would ruin the fun of my secret."

I sighed_. I_ _guess I'd have to wait until next time to try and talk to Tristan…_ I shook the thoughts from my head and looked back at the elderly sage. "Yes I'd like a battle, if you wouldn't mind that is."

"I am the one that asked." He laughed lightly and crossed to the back of the room on the other side of a battle field that seemed to have been drawn here. "Let's start out shall we? Go Weepinbell!" I blinked in pleasant surprise when I heard a different name other then bellsprout come out and I watched as its evolution stepped out onto the field. I pulled out my pokedex to give me a bit more information about it to make sure I wasn't too far out of my league.

_Weepinbell, the flycatcher pokemon. If its prey is bigger then its mouth, it slices up the victim with sharp leaves, then eats every morsel. Even thought it is filled with acid, it does not melt because it also oozes a protect fluid. Weepinbell are uncommon and tend to live on route forty-four or in the Safari Zone near completion in Cianwood._

I pouted my lips to the side of my face. _Well, that certainly means its going to be more of a challenge to battle compared to its pre-evolution. But how much of one? It's still a grass type._

"I would like to begin if you don't mind miss." I looked back up to the head sage and nodded to him. Cynder made her way out onto the floor and I waited. "You may make the first move."

"Okay…" I shrugged my shoulders before I looked over at my fire type. "Cynder use ember!" My fire pokemon blew fired at the grass type and it couldn't move to quickly so it took the hit, crying out as the fire took hold of it, but it still stood tall even with a burn on the side of it. It flinched when the cold air blew against the wound, but shook itself off and prepared itself for whatever would happen next.

"Acid Weepinbell!" The pokemon's cheeks inflated before spat out a large chunk of purple goop form its mouth, Cynder ducked out of the way and I even moved to the side as some of the impact thrown off acid bits flew in the air towards myself.

_I forgot it was also a poison type! Dang it!_

"Avoid the poison type attacks with quick attack Cynder!" My fire type used her speed to jump around and avoid the poison as it chucked at her from the back of the weepinbell's throat. She dodged left and right, avoiding every hit and the weepinbell's throat looked to be getting a little sore from all the hurling.

"Nice! Now's our chance Cynder! Use quick attack to get close and then ember!" My fire type nodded and jumped into a dash toward the acid spitting pokemon we faced. It tried in a last effort to protect itself by blasting more acid at it, but Cynder just leapt out of the way to the side where it couldn't turn quickly enough.

Cynder grinned as she ended up right before the pokemon's face and a small explosion of fire came from her mouth. The grass type erupted in flames as it's body caught fire and it ran around and rolling on the ground, trying to put out the fire. When the fire finally went out, the pokemon fell to the ground and didn't get back up, but acid still secreted from the edges of its lips.

The sage only smiled at the pokemon before returning it. "You have fared well against this match up my friend, good work." He placed the pokeball of his fallen grass type in some type of pocket in his robe before grabbing the next pokeball he had on hand. "This is my only other pokemon, but I believe you will enjoy facing this one rather then the grass types you've been facing in this tower. Let's go Hoothoot!" Out came the small bird pokemon that was normally nocturnal that had a large head with pale red eyes and black pupils, very tiny wings and feet compared to the body and head, which had dark brown and tan feathers. With some black ones on his head for eyebrows that stick off to the side off its head.

It looked quite angry as it tiled its head to look over at me and Cynder; it seems we must have accidentally woken it from its nap for this battle. Its eyes had a red glint to them as well as a bloodshot look as well when its eyes twisted just right. To say I was a little freaked out would fit the picture as well as be an understatement. I looked over at my pokemon and she raised an eyebrow at me, waiting on me to call out a move for her or something for her to do in this battle.

"Sorry for the wait Cynder! Let's start out this battle with quick attack!" Cynder jumped off the ground to give her a boost and she sped toward the flying type and leapt to attack it but the flying pokemon flew out of the way with a speed that was quite shocking to me. _How did Violet take out so many of these fast flying types if I can't even hit one of them?_

"A bird pokemon's speed can be hardly matched by few other types my dear," the elder only smiled on the other side of the room. "But there are exceptions in the world; is your cyndaquil one of them?"

"I guess we'll have to find out, won't we?" I looked over at Cynder, a new look of determination on both of our faces now. "Let's go again Cynder! Quick attack!" My fire type nodded and threw herself forward toward the flying type again. Even in its tired state, it managed to fly out of the way. It seemed that with every try, we only succeeded in making it madder compared to actually hitting it.

"I see you are tired my friend," the sage said to his pokemon. "Let us end this match quickly so that you may rest. Use hypnosis!"

The pokemon's eyes glowed a bright red and looked over at my pokemon. Cynder was smart to duck and close her eyes (but then again she didn't have her eyes wide open much anyway) but the pokemon kept on the attack, trying to put her under.

"Don't let that stop you Cynder! Smokescreen!" An explosion came from my pokemon's mouth and the field was covered in a thick, dark smoke. I could hear the coughing of the sage on the other side as well as his pokemon. Cynder hurried back over to me with the smoke distracting the pokemon and she emerged from the cloud. We waited for a short while before we saw a red glowing in the smoke from its last attack and watched as the bird pokemon flew up and out of the smoke before whirling it away with strong winds from its tiny wings.

"Quick Cynder! Before the fumes are away! Ember!" My fire type was quick to do as told and pointed her flames at the still present smoke. Apparently I didn't realize how that stuff would combust, because the next thing I knew, the place was blown up in fire and heat.

**Violet's Point of View:**

I was calmly relaxing over at the Ruins of Alph, reading over the ancient writings of those that lived in times where humans and these pokemon called "Unknown" lived together, it was from their shapes that the first alphabet was created.

I was reading over pictures of certain texts I'd found in the ruins below and in each of the chambers about the past of these strange and rare species of pokemon when I suddenly head an explosion off in the distance and looked off toward the area of the Sprout Tower in Violet City. Fire and smoke was coming out off the top floor and I blinked a few times before I laughed at the scene.

"I knew that girl was special! She's like another me!"

**Tristan's Point of View:**

I'd just gotten my badge from the man in charge of the Violet City gym, a young man a few years older then myself name Falkner. He'd just placed my first badge in hand when a roar was heard off in the distance and we turned our heads to the Sprout Tower, the area I'd just come from. Fire slipped through the holes in its sides and windows to escape, followed by smoke.

_I knew that girl wasn't like your average trainer, but she's almost as bad as Violet!_

Falkner blinked beside me before he laughed himself. "It looks like my next challenger is almost here, somewhat reminds me of Champion Violet in a way." He turned to his pidgeotto. "Go and help her get over here quick, I _really_ want to battle this trainer."

**Aaron's Point of View:**

A sudden explosion off in the distance startled me from my sleep. I jumped in my bed and looked around worriedly. The first thing I saw was that I was still in my bed over at the pokemon center and my three pokemon where all playing with each other on the floor, but had stopped and looked up to the window. I looked out there myself and watched as fire and smoke came out of the building.

_That isn't Gwyn is it?_

"Chika!" My chikorita pointed at the clock on the night stand with the leaf on its head and I turned to look. I gasped when I saw the time.

"WHAT THE HELL? WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME IT WAS THREE IN THE AFTERNOON? SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN ME UP SOONER AND NOW GWYN'S GONNA BATTLE THE GYM LEADER BEFORE ME! ...AND I MISSED BREAKFAST AND LUNCH!"

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

I coughed as smoke, fire and heat had filled the entire room. I shook off what I could that had gathered on me and looked through the patches of ash and dust to see the elder sage on the other side of the room. He worriedly looked out onto the field like I did to see if our pokemon were alright.

I suddenly head a coughing over to the side and sighed in relief when I watched my little fire misfit emerge from the ash cloud. She was covered head to toe in black, but it seemed not to bother her, nor did it bother me now that I knew she was alive.

The smoke continued to hang around, even as we watched and waited on the hoothoot to show itself. I was deeply worried for the angry bird when I didn't hear anything out of the ash cloud. I suddenly head a bird's call and looked up to the window to see another bird pokemon fly in, using its wings to blow away the ash that floated around in the air. I turned back to the battle field to watch as the ash disappeared and the body of hoothoot remained. It coughed out some left over ash and groaned as it lied on the ground.

_We won…?_

"Cynder…! We won!" My cyndaquil cried out in joy and cuddled up into my arms, happy as could be with what had just taken place. It was our first official battle, and we'd won!

"Congratulations my dear, it seems you are faster then my pokemon are." The sage returned his pokemon to its pokeball for some well needed red. "And it seems you've already been requested to go to the pokemon gym and face Falkner."

"How do you know that?" I tilted my head in confusion at the man.

"He has sent his pokemon to retrieve you from here, that's how." He turned to the large bird that was flapping about above. "Come here Pidgeotto, I shall let you take her now to your trainer for a battle."

The bird pokemon cried out and flew towards us. With soot all over my clothes now from Cynder, I rolled my eyes at how I looked and the sage pulled Cynder into his own arms and asked me to zip up my jacket before he placed Cynder at the top of the jacket and had me set her inside where she could grab onto the jacket.

He then had me raise my hands up into the area above and I suddenly felt the larger bird pokemon grab my wrists with its talons before it lifted me easily off the ground and through the window above and out of the tower. I yelled in surprise as I watched the elder sage wave good-bye to me and I was gone from his sight in no time.

"Next time I think we'll take the scenic route!" I yelped as the winds blasted in my face from this wild flying pokemon. Cynder nodded as I felt her burry beneath my jacket.

"Cynda!" She agreed with me.

The bird pokemon carrying us soon brought us closer to the ground when it brought us before a gym that was edged in light blue, showing that it was a flying type gym. I sighed as the bird soon allowed me to slow us down when my feet hit the ground and once I had enough stability, it released my arms before it flew through an open window in the gym.

"I guess we don't get much of a chance to rest before this battle Cynder." I looked down at my fire pokemon that had climbed out of my jacket which was now covered in black ash paw prints and stains. "I am so taking a shower when we're done, and you're getting a wash down."

"Cynda…" she mumbled at me an apology.

"Don't worry about it Cynder, now lets go win our first badge." She nodded and I pushed open the doors to the gym before us. Cynder jumped down to the ground and looked around just like I was. The room was very empty and had hardly a floor to it. It almost looked like it was suspended over a dug out basement where it was hard to see the bottom. Cynder and I looked over the edge to see how far down it was, but once I looked, I knew I'd die if I fell…

"Welcome challenger! I've been eagerly awaiting your arrival for our match!" I looked to the other side of the gym and watched as a young man not too many years older then myself motion me toward him onto where there was a battlefield. A thin pathway over this deathtrap of a room was the only way to him since I couldn't fly and neither could my pokemon.

"You certainly don't give a girl any rest, do you?" I slowly started to make my way toward him while he laughed on the other side of the room. The gym leader had neon dark blue hair that was cropped off at the base of his ears and dark hazel eyes. He seemed to be wearing a dark blue robe of sorts and had a very light, almost icy blue colored jacket over it that was rolled up at his elbows. Long white socks were on his feet and legs while those strange wooden shoes were on his feet and black wrist bands on his wrists.

"No, I'm just excited to battle a powerful beginning trainer like yourself," he replied to me. "You remind me of Violet Vilmos in a way, so I _had_ to battle you!"

"So badly that you had to kidnap me and my pokemon from the Sprout Tower?"

"Uh…" he stuttered at that. "…yes?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Whatever, its fine. Let's have that battle so you can get that crazy feeling out of you."

"Yes!" He pumped his fist and jumped up into the air as I finally made it across the board and then made my way over to my side of the field.

_I hope all gym leaders aren't like this…_

"Alright! Let's go Pidgey!" He threw out his pokeball and out came a small flying bird pokemon, much like the one I faced yesterday before Violet had to save me from the flock of them and hoothoot. The gym leader then gestured to me. "Sorry, I forgot to say who I was. I'm Falkner Guthrie, the leader of the Violet City gym and the first move goes to the challenger!"

"Whatever you say." I looked over at Cynder, still covered head to toe in smudged ash. She nodded to me. "Alright Cynder, let's start this out with ember!"

My fire pokemon nodded and sent out a blast of fire at the small bird pokemon. It cried out with a screech when my pokemon's attack hit it and it was thrown back into the wall, Falkner and I were both shocked and it made me turn to my pokemon in wonder. Is _Cynder really that strong? Even after so little time together?_

"Cynda!" My cyndaquil cried out and sent another set of flames at the pokemon across the field and pressed into the wall. These flames were stronger then and I watched in surprise as they seemed to get more intense as time went on. Eventually, the pidgey fell from its spot on the wall and crashed into the ground, it was entirely burnt and a lot of its feathers had gone, but that seemed to mean nothing to Cynder. She continued to cry out before I finally saw a white light overtaken her fidgeting body.

"Cynder!" I cried out in worry as my pokemon was taken over by that white light. I watched as her shape changed and she got a tab bit larger before I saw fire spit out of the top of her head and the lower back and practically on her rump. Her body was longer now and through the white light I watched as her eyes opened for the first time, I saw the white part of her eyes like any other human and some pokemon with neon dark red coloring in the center and a black pupil.

The light around her shattered with the flames on her body and she snorted before she looked back at me. "Quil!" she told me and I gasped as I looked at her newly evolved form. I quickly pulled out my pokedex and pointed it at her.

_Quilava, the volcano pokemon and the evolved form of cyndaquil. Quilava is fully covered by nonflammable fur. It can withstand any kind of fire attack. Be careful if it turns its back during battle. It means that it will attack with the fire on its back. There are no known quilava nests in the region._

_Whoa… Cynder evolved… she looks so pretty…_

"Quil!" My pokemon shouted at the gym leader across the battlefield. I could hear the urgent-ness in her voice, she was desperate to battle some more, especially now that she'd evolved.

_And she's still a little fire misfit, __**my**__ fire misfit._

"Cynder's quite ready for the next battle, so if I were you, I'd send out the next pokemon please!" I gave him a light grin and Falkner blinked as he returned his pokemon.

"You are like Violet, or at least your pokemon is like her fire type" Falkner said to us, amazed by each of us. "Then I won't try and keep you waiting at all, in fact, I'm over the edge with excitement!" He laughed before he whistled and down came the larger bird from before that had brought me here. "Let's go Pidgeotto!"

The larger bird pokemon flew down from its perch above and hovered over the ground as it glared at my fire type. Cynder merely snorted at the bird which caused it screech in anger.

_Man, what is it and bird pokemon that really seem to hate us? Or at least Cynder and then they come after me?_

"Pidgeotto! Get a hold of yourself and calm down! We'll never have a chance at beating her if you loose your cool!" Falkner yelled out to his pokemon and it seemed to snap the pokemon out of whatever trance it was under before it did indeed calm down and look at us with a set of determined eyes.

"Let's end this Cynder!" My pokemon agreed with my order and the flames erupted on her head and back. Her eyes locked on the bird pokemon and glared at her, for some strange reason, it brought out the anger in the bird's eyes again. I raised my eye brow at this and Falkner looked to be very confused, as was I.

_Man, bird pokemon really hate us!_

"Pidgeotto!" Falkner tried again to calm the bird, but his efforts were useless, it seemed the bird had a mind of its own and dived right at my quilava.

"Cynder use smokescreen!" With a screech from both myself and my pokemon, the field was then suddenly covered once again in ash and soot. "Now use ember!"

I could hear from the other side of the field as Falkner sucked in a breath of worry, and as soon as that flame of my pokemon's touched the flying ash, everything went up in smoke.

**Violet's Point of View:**

I'd gotten over my laugher from earlier on from when Gwyn had nearly blown things up inside the Sprout Tower and I'd relaxed and gotten back to my translating of the Unown and dotted languages to understand of what took place in the past. I was nearing the end of my document when I felt another flame off in the distance, with Amethyst's senses; I could smell it from as far away to the south west of the city as I was and my pokemon in her pokeball.

It was another explosion in the town, this time coming from the gym itself. I snorted and felt my lungs clench up as they knew what was about to happen. I suddenly burst out laughing once more and collapsed against the rocks that surrounded me as I sat atop of the ruins.

"O-oh my… M-Mew! Ah ha ha!" I couldn't stop my laughter. "Sh-she's just ge-getting better a-and be-better!"

"Violet! You know you're not supposed to be _on_ the ruins!" The voice of the scientist's was dull to my ears as I continued to roll and laugh atop of the ruins until I felt crumpling under me, and suddenly screamed when I fell inside.

**Random Male Rocket Grunt Point of View:**

As our leaders had sent us out to do, we were to find either the boss lady's son Tristan or a girl by the name of Gwyn Jalen that had the pokedex and rare pokemon that the boss lady was after. We were waiting patiently on route thirty-two for when the two children would leave Violet City and here we could ambush them.

As we waited hunched over in the grass, we could hear laughter from off in the distance. I turned my head past my partner, assigned to me to complete this mission, and watched as a young woman danced around the top of the ruins that were slightly north of our location. My eyes widened when I heard her laughter, it was a voice that was hard to miss, especially if you'd faced her in the past. It was the voice of Violet Vilmos that I heard. She was so close to where we were! Trying to take anything from these kids now would be like suicide!

But the boss lady wanted the device and the pokemon, so we have to go along with it. I shook all negative thoughts from my head and looked back to the grassy path that led to the city. But my mind kept wandering back to that woman that stopped us three years ago. Her laugh still haunted my mind…!

Her sudden scream startled me and I looked back to where she had been to no longer see her. It was music to my ears to hear silence and not her haunting laughter…

"Dude! Pay attention! Boss lady's son at twelve o'clock!" my partner snapped at me. I looked away from the ruins and turned to look back at the grassy path that led onto this route from the city. Just like my partner had said, there was the red haired boy. He cautiously looked around the area before hurrying past the clearing that we waited at the edge of and booked it to the pokemon center that was at the end of this route before the cave.

"Now let's go get that brat's pokemon and pokedex for the boss lady!" I shouted in a whisper to my partner. He nodded and grabbed the rope next to him.

"Hmm? So you guys are still around." I suddenly felt an enormous amount of shivers run up my back when I heard that voice. I slowly turned my head around to see the haunting eyes of Champion Violet Vilmos looking at me, her eyes bright and daring as she glared at us. I couldn't move as her gaze held me.

"So… Rose is after some things Tristan has? Or is it something that all three kids have?" I cursed mentally; the woman was reading our minds with the power of her dark type that sat upon her shoulders. That mean and nasty little rat that could tear you limb from limb!

"We're not telling you anything you bitch!" My partner yelled to her.

Violet merely tipped her head to the side and pouted at us before a grin appeared and she closed her eyes for a moment before every inch of them, even the whites of her eyes, turned neon dark red, like the color of a slightly brighter then blood color and a black reptile like pupil was in the center, just like a slit of black in the middle.

"This is gonna be interesting then…" She grabbed both of our uniforms and dragged us away. I tried to scream and struggle, but her pokemon prevented me from doing either with its psychic powers.

_What is she gonna do to us?_

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

I coughed once again as the smoke started to clear on the field. Though the one eye I could see out of, I glanced around to see what was still around after that large explosion, the second one I'd caused today. I could only imagine the look on Aaron's face when I tell him it was me who caused both of them… or Violet's when she catches wind that I blew up the battlefield in both the Sprout Tower and the Violet City gym. Just thinking about that for some reason gave me shivers down my spine.

I suddenly saw Cynder, she had ash all over her again and was black from head to toe, the only exception was the fire on the back of her head and her butt and lower back that burned brightly. She was hardly breathing heavily at all and shook some of the soot off her body before she snorted and looked out into the smoke to see her opponent. A body fell out of the smoke, complete covered in the ash. I blinked at it and watched as the blob took shape of the pidgeotto, the last pokemon that Falkner had.

"We won Cynder! We won our first gym battle!" My quilava turned back and grinned at me before she lept into my arms, smudging even more soot and ash onto me. "Yuck! We're going to need nearly thirty baths just to get these stains off of us!"

"Well, that's what you get for using explosions on the battlefield twice in one day." I turned my head to look at Falkner as he approached me, his pokemon returned and resting in its pokeball. "You fought like a mad woman out there and I was incredibly happy to face you, I hope maybe I can face you again in the future, and as proof that you've beaten me this time, here is my badge, the zephyr badge." He had in the palm of his hand a badge that resembled two wings that had been combined as one with them flapping downward and the space between. It was an icy blue, almost off white in color with a silver edge.

I took the badge from him and placed it in my badge case. "Thank you Falkner, it's my first badge, I'm excited to see where we go next."

"I'd suggest going south from here to Azalea Town, it's the only way to another gym without the roads being cut off, apparently something really fishy is going on, on route thirty-six." He scratched the back of his head. "I have no idea what's going on, but heading south would probably be the best way to go, and I'll send the gym leader down there, Bugsy, a message to know that you're coming to face him next."

"I really appreciate that Falkner, thanks." With Cynder in my arms I turned to leave, but not before I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Wait, before you go, what's your name?" Falkner's question stumped me for a moment or two before I realized I'd never told him my name.

"Sorry about that, my name's Gwyn Jalen." I nervously chuckled. "Sorry, I thought I already told you my name, I tend to be a bit oblivious and forgetful at times."

Falkner waved it off. "Don't worry about it, now you'd best get some rest for your travels tomorrow. I wouldn't leave tonight; my bird's sensed a large storm coming in over night."

"I think I'll follow that advice-" I was cut off mid-sentence when my pokegear rang. When I saw who it was I rolled my eyes and opened it after mouthing an apology to Falkner. "Hello?"

"_Do you have any idea what you did to me?_" I could hear the angry voice of Aaron on the other side of the phone as he seethed at me.

"No, should I?"

"_You didn't wake me up this morning and I didn't get up until three in the afternoon! I missed breakfast and lunch all together! Now I have to wait until tomorrow to face the gym leader since bad weather's kicking in and it's getting late…_"

"Well, that's your own fault for not getting up when I tried to wake you hours ago. I did try, but then let you be since you wouldn't get up." I snorted a laugh. "By the way, I got my first gym badge; see you back at the pokemon center."

It was quiet for a few moments before I heard him growling on the other end. "_I hate you…_"

**Witch's Note:**

**Yahoo! Another chapter done and now we have one badge under the belt! Only seven more to go and now that we've finished chapter three, only twenty-six more chapters left! Yes! I know! I have the entire outline done so I know how many chapters there will be! Originally I had planned only twenty-eight in total, but there was one event that I had to put in since it was in the first story, and I bet you guys can put two and two together in time, once you see how that event connects all the rest! So there will be twenty-nine chapters in total, not including the Q's & A's chapter.**

**Moving on! I'd love if you all would send in Questions and Reviews for me and the characters! It's something for us to do so we don't get bored and destroy things in our free time and I'm not writing. (It's a dangerous thing to leave me bored, or blood might get spilled… ;P)**

**Love you all and see you next week!**

_**Halloween Witch**_


	4. The Fishing Route

_Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage_

_Chapter 4: The Fishing Route_

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

Waking up the next morning (and after having nearly a two hour shower to get all the gunk off my body and clothes and Cynder as well) I noticed that Aaron was not in his bed when I woke up at the early hour of six. He must have gotten up much earlier then I even had from all his sleep yesterday and what he had to make up with so he could travel with me today into the Union Cave for some training together before we would make our way into Azalea Town.

I yawned and smiled down at Cynder who was snuggled into my side. I shook my head in silence as I looked at her before I noticed that there was a note at my side. In the messy handwriting it was in, it had to be Aaron's. I snorted and picked it up to read while I continued to lie in bed.

_Gwyn,_

_I'm heading out to the tower today to train before I tackle the gym, and do some last minute training back on route thirty-one. I'll meet you over at the pokemon center on route thirty-two tonight if that's okay with you. You can train while I try to quickly finish up things here and meet you over there. I hope to be there by six tonight, so I'll see you then!_

_Aaron, Chikorita, Kakuna and Pidgey_

I shook my head at them. _Another day by myself, I don't mind that at all._ I yawned and sat up in my bed and it caused Cynder to stir. She whined as she rolled into the spot where I just was, taking in all the warmth of the blankets. She refused to wake up, even when I tried to wake her.

"Come on Cynder, we've got places to go and things to do, you can't just stay in bed all day." Like any day, she simply ignored me trying to get her out of bed and curled up in her spot. I rolled my eyes. "Fine, I'll come get you when I'm done, but if you're not up by then, I'm carrying you as you are in front of everyone out of this place." My fire pokemon then finally looked up at me with a set of tired eyes and nodded before turning over to go back to sleep.

While she slept I got a little bit of work done. I'd already washed all my clothes the night before and let them really go through the washer a few times before I went to bed. I threw them into the dryer and hopped into the shower for another wash up, for some strange reason, I still felt dirty after all the scrubbing I did yesterday. My skin still had the sensation of being raw and very clean, so the soap and more scrubbing hurt a bit when I got in another time, but I thought it was better then going without.

Once I was clean, again, I climbed out of the shower and got dried off with some of the towels that the pokemon center provided for us. Once my body was dry, the machine to the dryer went off and I knew my clothes were dry, fluffy and warm. I sighed and wrapped up my hair to keep excess water off my back and body as I got changed. Once my clothes were on and I felt all warm and cozy, I started brushing out my hair and doing other essentials.

I suddenly heard a knock on my door however which halted my work. "Just a minute!" I called out to whoever was there. I finished getting through my hair as quickly as I could before I hurried out into the bedroom I was sharing with Aaron and our pokemon. Cynder was now wide awake as she looked to the door wearily. I quickly opened the door and was surprise to see that it was one of Professor Elm's assistants.

"Good morning Gwyn, I hope you're doing alright on your journey?" the aid questioned me.

"Yeah, I've been fine, just got my first badge yesterday and Cynder evolved." The aid looked past me over on the bed where Cynder sat, growling lightly under her breath. I snapped at her not to and my pokemon simply came off the bed and stood next to my feet, carefully watching the aid.

"It's only natural for her to be cautions of new people or pokemon that she meets. I don't blame her of being weary of me." He nodded to the pokemon and Cynder only snorted at him. He looked back at me. "I'm actually here per request of Professor Elm."

"Professor Elm? What does he want me to do or what does he want from me? Besides what I'm already doing."

The aid took down his large backpack and set it on the ground before he pulled out a glass container that contained the egg that Mr. Pokѐmon had asked me to bring to the professor. "Professor Elm has been studying this egg and has made little progress with it, believing it will hatch under better and more likeable conditions if it is looked after by a trainer, or at least other pokemon. The professor would like you to look after the egg and raise it until it hatches… or keep raising it even after it hatches if you get attached to the pokemon inside."

My jaw dropped. "He wants _me_ to look after this egg?" I looked at the speckled pattern of pale green dots on this off white colored egg that fit into my arms.

"He thought you were the best person to count on." The aid shrugged. "The professor hardly knows any other trainers and he feared that Aaron would damage it by accident with his wild personality. He felt it was in the safest hands with you and would get the most attention and care that it needs."

"Well, I don't mind at all." I grinned. "I hope it turns out to be a cute little pokemon!"

"Then it's settled!" The aid put his backpack back on his shoulders and turned away from me, his bag now looking pretty deflated without the egg and its container inside it. "The professor needs me back for more work over at the lab, so I'll take my leave now Gwyn, have a good journey!" The aid ran off out of my sight, leaving the egg in my arms within its container.

"Well… that was interesting." I closed the door and Cynder followed me over to the bed where I looked intently at the egg in my arms. "So now we have an egg to take with us…"

Cynder climbed into my lap and sniffed at the case that protected the egg and kept it warm. "Quil?"

"Yeah!" I giggled. "You're gonna be a big sister to this pokemon, right Cynder?"

"Quilava!" She grinned up at me and gently placed her paws on the glass.

"And I'll be its momma! I'm so excited!" I grinned from nearly ear to ear as we watched the little life that was before us.

It was only then that Cynder and I were disturbed from our thoughts when we heard ringing coming from my pokegear. I blinked my eyes in surprise and looked over at my pokemon who only shrugged at me. I pulled the device out of my pocket and opened my pokegear and answered it.

"Hello?"

"_Hey_ _ya Hon! Have some explosive battles lately?_" I blinked in surprise before I recognized the young woman's voice.

"Violet!"

"_The one and only Hon, who were you expected to call you? Santa Claus?_"

"Hardy har har." I snorted at her. "So what's up?"

"_Well, I just got back to Violet City and I've seen your friend running around the place like crazy, so I figured it was just you and your little fire misfit, so I was wondering if you wanted to spend some of the day with me so the two of us won't be bored or alone._"

"Sure, I've got nothing else to do and Aaron probably won't be back at the pokemon center on route thirty-two until tonight when I'm supposed to meet him, so I'm free all day."

"_Excellent!_" I heard her laugh. "_And you need to tell me about those explosions in both the tower and the gym, those looked awesome and I could see them all the way from the Ruins of Alph! Speaking of which,_" she paused for a moment. "_Why don't you meet me there? The unknown and dotted languages here to learn are pretty cool and gives you a bit of a look into the past._"

"Sure Violet, I'll meet you over there, but can we also visit route thirty-two? I was thinking about maybe looking at the pokemon that live there and see if I want another pokemon to add to my team. As much as I love Cynder, I can't have her as my only pokemon or else I won't get very far."

"_No problem at all Hon, meet me over here and I'll show you a few things before we head down there and eat our lunches or something. Sound good?_"

"Yeah, I'll meet you over there in a few minutes, just let me pack up and return my key to the front desk."

"Alright Hon, but don't take too long." I could hear her laughing almost evilly in the background. "Bad things happen when I get bored…"

I flinched back in worry and looked at my pokegear as I pulled it away from my face. You know, she makes me wonder a bit if she's really all that sane…

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

It took me a short half hour to make my way over to the Ruins of Alph and get all the things done I needed to before I left the pokemon center. I carried the egg container in my arms while Cynder was perched up on my shoulder. Her ears kept moving around as she watched the area as the trees thinned out and we suddenly came to an area that was made entirely of mountains and old ruins connected with some caves. It was incredible to say the least once I stepped foot inside, Cynder was even impressed with all of this.

"There you are!" I whipped my head around to see Violet fast approaching us. "I was wondering when you'd get here and- oh! You have a pokemon egg!" She hurried over to me and gave me a soft hug to prevent hurting the egg. She faltered however when she did that and touched the glass over the pokemon egg.

"What's wrong Vi-"

"This is set to hot!" She cried out in worry. "The eggs going to be barbequed!" I gasped and Violet took the egg case from my arms and set it on the ground before she pressed her fingers against the sides of the glass and shattered it under her strength. She allowed me to pull out the _quite_ warm egg and I gasped at the steam that I saw flowing out of it.

"Oh my Lugia… what just happened?" I cradled the egg in my arms as it cooled down. "I didn't think I hit any wrong buttons…"

"I don't think you did Hon, it looks like it had been accidentally set for a fire type pokemon for over a few hours now." Violet said as she looked at the settings. "The poor thing, I think it'll be alright since the container didn't get too warm, but I wouldn't use this again, even if you did get another glass for it."

"Devices like that make me edgy." I sighed. "I think I'll just carry it in my jacket or something, I don't wanna have to rely on those things again." Violet nodded and threw the container in a near by trashcan and picked up all the glass as well.

"Phew, now that the crisis is over, I'm gonna show you the unknown and dotted languages from both my region and yours." She led me over to a table on the side where she pulled out some charts and pictures and set them all around the table for me to look at. I kept the egg with Cynder as she sat next to me; she would keep her baby sibling warm without getting her too warm with her own body head.

"So are these the charts?" I pointed to two pictures that an image and a letter next to them, or a number.

"Yes, these ones are from both our regions, depending on the ruins you find. I'll start with the dotted one, more commonly and correctly known as braille, but I just like to call it dotted since it makes more sense to me." Violet pulled forward the paper that had colored spots on it in sets of six next to each letter, comma or period. "Besides being an old language, it was also a way of teaching blind people how to read and what not since they couldn't see where they were going. In my region, while we have ruins where there are unknown parts too, it seems that braille takes up most of the old language there. Or at least from what I've seen in my time being there."

"So you can translate this stuff?" I questioned her.

"Of course! I've been studying it in my free time for the past three years." She pulled out a couple of the papers and set them down before me so I could see them. There were two different ones, but both of them were written in braille. "Here let me read you the first one:

_'Everything has meaning,_

_Existence has meaning,_

_Being alive has meaning,_

_Have dreams,_

_Use power.'"_

I blinked in surprise that the young woman could read such a strange language. I pointed to the slightly longer one. "And what about this one?" She smiled and took hold of the paper before setting it down before me and showing her finger reading the words as she read.

_"Let the three glittering stones,_

_One of red,_

_One of blue,_

_One of green,_

_Connect the past._

_Many friends sharing power,_

_Open a window to a new world that glows,_

_The next world waits for you."_

"It sounds almost like a poem."

"It's somewhat closer to one, or at least, in my opinion I think it is." Violet pushed the papers toward me so I could get a better look at them. "These are the writings that are from my home region on two of the Sevii Islands, just south of the region, but they are governed over by Kanto."

"Okay, now what about this type of language and these pictures?" I pointed to the next alphabet and some other pictures that looked to have been taken in our region.

"Ah, now this is the old language that's from your region. Its call the 'unknown language'. The reason for this is actually because 'unknown' is actually a pokemon, or many of them with different forms."

"How many different forms?"

"Enough to make up the alphabet and a question and exclamation mark. So in total about twenty-eight of them." My jaw dropped.

"Come again?"

"Twenty-eight of them, not joking." She placed a piece of paper before me. "Here's a picture of them all, can you recognize some of the letter shapes?"

"Wow, you weren't kidding." I looked over the sheet that showed all the different types of the twenty-eight unknown and I noticed that all of them seemed to have wide open eyes except for the two symbol ones, the question mark and the exclamation point. "Wait, why are these two looking like they just woke up?"

Violet shrugged. "Who knows? It's just the way they always appear to me; I've never seen another expression. It's the other twenty-six that give me plenty of other expressions."

"Can you translate a couple to me?"

"Of course, I might as well do all four of these at once, there from the temples around here." She pulled over four pages and began to read them.

_"Our clan._

_Pretend pokemon statues outside._

_Our clan._

_Energized words in this place._

_We humans need to walk with them._

_We leave them here._

_For the safe of them._

_We sense their consciousness._

_They hold power._

_They reject the outside world."_

"That's _honestly_ what it says?"

"I'm not joking Gwyn, use the chart and try to decipher it if you want." Violet handed over all the papers to me and I began to look through them. As soon as some of the words started to match up with what Violet told me, I gave up on it and handed them back.

"Wow, I think my head's spinning from info overload."

"Then let's take a break from this and head to route thirty-two shall we? I'm also intrigued by which pokemon you plan to get there for your team to go with Cynder and possibly this egg when it hatches."

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

True to her word, Violet led me away from the ruins to route thirty-two. It was a very woodsy route with a river that merged to the center of it before it branched off and away from here with a small inlet where fishermen on a bridge over that inlet would try to catch new pokemon, or that day's meals.

"Okay, so now that we're here, is there any type of pokemon in the area that you think you may like?" Violet questioned me once we got to an area that was deep enough into the route.

"I'm not sure, but I'm kinda hopping for a cute pokemon to add to my team, what I'd really like is a mareep, I have a few jackets made from their fluffy wool and its amazing! Plus, they're a really good electric type pokemon to have." I unconsciously felt the jacket I was wearing. It was still soft under my fingers and now it helped me keep the egg and myself warm with my body heat and the heat that my jacket reflected.

"Well, we're in luck then; there are a few mareep nests on this route." Violet tapped her chin as she thought out loud. "And I've passed through here a time or two, if I remember correctly, there was a mareep here a year ago that tended to be pretty strong among electric types and all other pokemon here, but it was a bit stubborn." She grinned back at me. "Of course, it wasn't strong enough to face off against Amber, she fried the poor thing, but it certainly put up a fight until I had to call it quits before the pokemon really hurt itself."

"Hurt itself how?"

"Well, it kept challenging Amber that if we kept battling it for too long, it wouldn't have survived." She sighed and shivered in worry, looking down at her lap while I saw the memories pour in the back of her mind. "It was really a stubborn pokemon, but a strong and loyal one too; it never gave up until we called it quits and said it was the victor just so it would stop trying to battle us and not die of its injuries."

"That is one determined pokemon…"

Violet smiled and looked over at Cynder, who looked back at her in question. "Quil?"

"So is Cynder, she's got a strong will too. And also can be quite the trouble maker when she wants to be." Violet patted the top of my pokemon's head and Cynder willingly leaned into her touch. She squeaked happily as Violet's hand dipped down and under her chin before Cynder was nearly a puddle in her hands.

"So how do we know if this pokemon is still here? Or where to find the mareep?" Violet blinked and her hand faltered while petting Cynder. She whined when she wasn't getting any attention any more and Violet patted her head before she walked toward the grass and called out Amber.

"Like this my dear Gwyn," she turned to her pokemon and nodded to her. Amber produced a multitude of sparks before she cried out and lightning flew up into the air and dark clouds condensed above. I watched them gather in awe, taking over the sky and hiding the sun before I heard movement in the grass. Mareep from all over the area were coming forth, then cowered when they saw Amber, apparently they remembered her from last time.

Violet looked around, none of the mareep caught her eyes until she heard something, and it forced her to look all the way back behind her, she then grinned when she saw a mareep come up and out of the bushes. The one she was looking at seemed to be quite temperamental and sparked on the side of its head and on its tail. The pokemon was a small sheep that had a blue skin color, but light yellow wooly coat, a striped yellow and black tail with a lightly glowing yellow ball on the end of it and strange ears on either side of its head that was also striped yellow and black.

I pulled out my pokedex to learn more about this pokemon I wanted.

_Mareep, the wool pokemon. If static electricity builds in its body, its fleece doubles in volume. Touching it will shock you. Its fleece grows continually. In the summer, its fleece is fully shed, but it grows back in a week. Mareep are not commonly seen, but some nests can be found on route thirty-two, forty-two, forty-three and in the Safari Zone in Cianwood City._

"Cool! This pokemon is still here! And it's a male! It'll balance out the genders on my team!" I exclaimed. I looked over at Violet. "Thanks for helping me find it Violet! Can I battle him now to catch him?"

The mareep didn't like hearing that idea. He screeched out and suddenly his fur puffed up and Violet dove toward me and pushed me out of the way in time for a bolt of lighting to barely miss me, but it did hit Violet.

"Uh oh…" I sucked in a breath as I watched the powerful trainer get hit and withstand the attack. I think the mareep realized it too, but a second too late before even he was afraid of Violet. He backed away slightly into the grass; all the other mareep had long since left the area just out of fear of that woman's look.

"_Amber, take it down!_" The woman's hissing ran shivers up my spine and I made a metal note never to anger this woman. The strong mareep looked worriedly over at the raichu before he was hit with the largest bolt of lighting I'd ever seen in my life. The blast swallowed the pokemon inside and I watched its body and shadow disappear for a moment when the light became too bright.

When I looked back again, I felt sweat drops roll down my face and back in fear as I he lay on the ground, covered in a black coat of shock. Violet huffed at the pokemon before she turned on her heels and sat upon the rock that was conveniently sitting there by the river.

I nervously laughed. "Thanks Violet…"

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

It was later in the afternoon and I'd finally washed all the burnt bits and pieces out of my mareep's coat. Yes, during the short time where Violet was huffy at him for electrocuting her, I'd caught him and he easily warmed up to me and Cynder, but still had a rivalry with Violet and Amber. He would spark the electric mouse pokemon on occasion until she'd had enough and fry him again, though not as badly as the first time. I named him Shocker since he loved to shock people and pokemon. I wouldn't have to worry much about him in a fight, and we'd have all the time in the Union Cave to train and great ready for the next gym.

"There! All done Shocker! Now your wooly coat is all clean again! At least until your next battle that is…" Shocker merely shrugged and curled himself up in my lap next to my egg. Cynder happily joined him there and the two of them, and their baby sibling that had yet to hatch, rested while I talked with Violet.

"Sorry about scaring you earlier Gwyn, I guess I got a little mad." The woman rubbed the back of her head nervously, but didn't say much else.

"Don't worry about it Violet, you just got mad, it happens to a lot of people."

Her face suddenly turned a bit darker. "Not all people Gwyn." She sighed and petted her raichu's head. "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I think you and the two boys have a right to know."

"Right to know what? Is something going on that connects me, Aaron and Tristan?" Violet sighed again and I watched as her face twisted with emotions. Worry, it was one of the top ones she felt, the next was anger, and all others soon fell into place after those two, all of them being negative.

"…Team Rocket is after the three of you, they're after your pokedex and your pokemon since they're rare and hard to come by." I blinked my eyes at her in surprise and shock. "I found them waiting to ambush Tristan just yesterday while you were having your gym battle and I hit them up for information. Apparently you have some things that may help them, so you're their next targets."

"What? Bu-but why?" I gasped and both my pokemon looked up at me worriedly. _They're after me, Tristan and Aaron? But why? Why us? We didn't do anything to them!_

Violet saw how worried I looked and shook her head. "You and Aaron may not have made contact with Team Rocket, but Tristan has, they're apart of his past." She looked away from me. "You need to be careful Gwyn, I don't plan on stopping you from doing anything, but this is just a warning to you so you'll be more careful while you travel."

She stood up from her spot and Amber returned herself to her pokeball, leaving only Chalcedony out, who I hadn't noticed until now when he peaked his head out from behind her shoulder. "Be careful Hon, I gotta go and your friend is coming, I can hear him shouting from off in the distance, I'll talk to you later. Though you better decide quick if you want to tell him and Tristan or not about what I told you."

In the next second, she was gone. She literally vanished into the trees; just like Tristan had the night I'd met him. I quickly composed myself and stood up from my spot to see Aaron join me with a large grin on his face.

"I beat the gym leader Gwyn!" Aaron proudly pulled out his case and showed me his first badge. "And Kakuna evolved into a beedrill!"

"That's great to hear," I complimented him and pushed my feelings of worry to the back of my mind. "And I caught a mareep today, his name's Shocker; and Professor Elm entrusted me with the egg we got from Mr. Pokѐmon."

"Nice!" He punched my arm and then took my hand in his and hurried us to the pokemon center that was just a short way up the path. "Come on Gwyn, I can hear the food calling for me!"

"I'm coming! Slow down and stop dragging me!" Regardless, I let him pull me as some of my earlier thoughts came to the front of my mind now while Aaron relentlessly ranted.

_Why me? There's so many other people out there, so why Aaron, Tristan and me? What does Team Rocket really want?_

**Witch's Note:**

**And another chapter bites the dust! I'm shocked I got so many done in such a short time (though you guys never really noticed since I update weekly) but I got three chapters done over vacation! This one took me only a day! (Which thankfully I had off…)**

**Okay, so now we have two new pokemon for Gwyn, even if one she can't use or give a name to yet, but we'll get there. And these next chapters will be mostly with Aaron at her side now, so we can see more of how he acts around her! (Better pay attention!) So now my wonderful reviews and readers, if you would be so kind as to Review and send in Questions for me, I'd be greatly appreciative!**

**Love you all and see you next week with another wonderful chapter!**

_**Halloween Witch**_


	5. The Return of Team Rocket

_Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage_

_Chapter 5: The Return of Team Rocket_

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

It's been a couple weeks since Aaron and I teamed up to travel together though the Union Cave and train together. He's been a bit disappointed since every time he battles me he's defeated by Cynder or Shocker, so he's been a bit sour over that. Other than that, things have been pretty decent in the cave and both of us had pokemon evolve in there, in fact, three of our pokemon evolved in there.

Aaron's chikorita was the first pokemon to evolve. It turned into a larger four legged creature that was a yellow with a hint of brown mixed in with it for its skin tone. It still had its large red eyes, but the small beads of plants that had been around its neck had turned into leaves, and the leave on its head just got larger. It was called a bayleef and I looked up its information earlier.

_Bayleef, the leaf pokemon and the evolved form of chikorita. The scent of spices comes from around its neck. Somehow, sniffing it makes you want to fight. There are no bayleef nests in the region._

The next to evolve was Aaron's pidgey into pidgeotto. While I had seen one before, I hadn't gathered the information on it when I last got it, so I did that when I got chance.

_Pidgeotto, the bird pokemon and evolved form of pidgey. It has outstanding vision. However high it flies, it is able to distinguish the movement of its prey. It renders its prey immobile using well-developed claws, then carries the prey more than sixty miles to its nest. Pidgeotto nests in this region aren't as common as they're pre-evolution and are found on routes thirty-seven and forty-three._

Then the last to evolve in the caves was Shocker. He now walked on two legs and turned pink in color, even his tail, but it was still striped with black and had a glowing blue ball on the end of it and his strangely shaped ears were striped pink and black too. He didn't exactly like his coloring, but he shrugged at it. This evolution, while not a color he likes, meant more power for him, and he was looking forward to when he wasn't going to be a 'girly pink color'. His words, not mine. Although, I have to admit he looked pretty cute as he did now. I looked up the information for him on my pokedex.

_Flaaffy, the wool pokemon and the evolved form of mareep. Its fluffy fleece easily stores electricity. Its rubbery hide keeps it from being electrocuted. As a result of storing too much electricity, it developed patches where even downy wool won't grow. Flaaffy nests are rare and can only be found on routes forty-two and forty-three._

And since Aaron's beedrill had evolved before I got a chance to get the information on it, I had to get it in the cave. Beedrill was a large hornet like pokemon that was nearly the size of myself and had large red eyes and six black appendages, two of them with thick, grey, non spiraled drills on them. Its wings were quite large and it tended to be a bit of a pain when battling because of how fast it moved, but Cynder eventually adapted to its speed and found it easy to beat now.

_Beedrill, the poison bee pokemon and the evolved form of kakuna. It can take down any opponent with its powerful poison stingers. It sometimes attacks in swarms. It has three poison barbs. The barbs on its tail secrete the most powerful poison. Beedrill nests are hardly seen in this region, but on rare occasion can be found in the National Park._

The cave had been a great place for training, well… at least for Aaron's pokemon at least. There was mostly water, rock and ground pokemon in that cave. Types that mostly had the advantage to my pokemon, but we were still able to take them out. It just took up a lot more of Cynder and Shocker's energy.

"Look up there Gwyn!" Aaron shouted as he once again grabbed my wrist and pulled me forward once again toward the exit of the cave. I could see the heavy rain and wind from the back of the tunnel, but Aaron seemed not to notice as he dragged me along. Cynder squeaked when she saw the rain and popped herself into her pokeball while Shocker ran beside me and I held my egg, wrapped in a thick blanket I had on me, in my other arm that Aaron didn't have a hold of.

Aaron continued to tug on my arm until I finally had enough and refused to be dragged out into the rain and ripped my arm from his as we got to the entrance. Aaron turned back in surprise, but my tugging hadn't quite stopped his sprint, so he ended up just outside of the cave and felt the downpour fall upon him. He looked up at the weather and quickly reached into his bag and pulled out an umbrella while returning his pokemon other then his bayleef.

"Sorry about that Gwyn, I guess I got pretty excited." I sighed as he rubbed the back of his head and held the umbrella out for me to get under in the pouring rain. I quickly got under it and Shocker jumped onto my shoulder to keep dry himself without going back into his pokeball. He didn't exactly care for it, that was for sure.

I noticed the patches of heavy water that had washed out a lot of the bank, in all honestly, the path were on, that was paved by the way, was one of the only things around that didn't look almost swampy with all the rain water that came down.

"This place is pretty wet," I commented as I continued to look around at the super saturated area.

"Yeah? It doesn't look too bad," Aaron shrugged as we continued to walk down the road. "I mean, we can walk on this road, right?"

"But that's only because its paved Aaron, if it wasn't, we'd be treading through swamp right now." Just to prove him right I pulled him over to the edge of the road and grabbed onto his arm so he'd keep me stable as I pushed my foot down on the edge of the road. It was muddy and mucky and my foot sunk right down in. Aaron had to help me pull out my foot from how awful the conditions were.

I shook off the mud from my shoe and pulled it off my foot as we continued on our way, I was bouncing on my one foot while the other tried to keep dry while I had to have Shocker carry my shoe since my hands were very full with an egg and holding on Aaron to keep from falling over.

It started to clear up in weather once we stepped off of route thirty-three that led us away from the cave. Aaron grinned when he finally saw the sun and hurried off, dragging me with him with only one foot to walk on, or more like hop on.

"Aaron!" I snapped and the boy let up on his speed. He chuckled nervously at me again and helped me at a more pacing speed to town.

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

Getting to the town was actually much easier and what not then we thought. Though when we got there, the place almost looked like a ghost town. Hardly anyone was out and about and there was latterly no pokemon in sight, not even a cry from a nearby pokemon at all. It didn't put off a good vibe to me, and even my best friend noticed it.

"Whoa, what happened here?" He blinked and looked around worriedly at the few people who were out and about. I sighed and finally gave up on wearing my other shoe again and just grabbed my hanging up foot and pulled off the sock and placing it on the ground. It felt extremely cool to my skin, but I would bear through it until I could get my shoes warm and the mud and water out of them.

"I don't know Aaron, but something bad took place here." I pulled out an extra plastic bag from my side bag that I had accidentally left inside and put my shoes inside it, I'd taken off the other one as well since its weird to have one shoe on and one off. Once they were packed up and I was safe from getting them on anything, I took another look around to see if there was anything out of the mist that was going on in Azalea Town.

"I'M GONNA STOP YOU!" I whipped my head around to see a man in his mid life age flying toward us toward the outskirts of the town. "I WILL STOP YOU TEAM ROCKET! GIVE US BACK OUR POKEMON AND MY GRANDDAUGHTER!"

I gasped when I heard that. _That was the same evil team that Violet told me that was after Aaron, Tristan and I!_ I looked after the man that then zoomed by us and gaped at his enraged face. _Does that guy have any pokemon on him? If he doesn't he's gonna be really hurt if he encounters those Rockets!_

"Grandpa! Wait for me!" I turned my head back around to see a little girl of about the age of seven hurrying up to the man that just flew by. "Grandpa! I wanna help save Sissy and Slowpoke!"

"Wait, what's going on here Sweetie?" The girl slowed down at my question and breathed heavily as she fell to the ground.

"Te-team Rocket s-stole the po-pokm-mon in town, and my Sis-ssy went to ge-get them b-back." She breathed harshly as she tried to explain. "Sissy left tw-two days ago… and Grandpa only h-has one po-ke-mon…"

_Violet was right! These guys are horrible!_ I quickly handed my egg over to Aaron and dropped the bag with my shoes in it with him and headed back the way we came, slightly off to the north where apparently the old man was going. _At least maybe I can offer him a hand if things get too hard on him._

**Third Person Point of View:**

Just to the side of the town called Azalea, there was a well, deep under guard by a man in black while his comrades worked below. Pokemon of all kinds were kept down there, but the one mostly trapped where those known as slowpoke. One by one they would be grabbed and by a merciless hand they would have their bodies held down and their tail cut off for the meat, which was apparently very rare and delectable on the black market.

Along with those pokemon and the evil men that stole parts of their bodies, there was a young woman there as well around the age of fourteen or fifteen maybe. Her hands were bound over her head to a rock while most of the work passed around her. She hissed though her damp black locks that covered her face as she glared at all the men and woman who dared to do this to her home town and all its pokemon.

"My, my, my dear, you'll burn holes into the back of their heads if you don't calm down." She seethed as she looked upward to the man that stood over her, the man that had captured her two days ago when she first entered here. Her captor was a higher up ranked member of the organization called Team Rocket and his name, which she had heard finally after a long period of time, was Proton.

The best way to describe this young man in Team Rocket was cocky, arrogant, and lustful. He certainly didn't give in easy unless the opponent he faced was far too much for him to handle, such as Violet Vilmos, other then her and a few select others, Proton didn't often back down and just kept on the attack until he got what he wanted or needed. Proton was dressed in a Team Rocket uniform just as the other members were, but since he was a higher up, he got to have some changes to him to make his more personalized. He wore his hair in his own spiky hair style compared to changing it to match the other grunts, which was a bright Caribbean blue-green and curved slightly toward the front of his face. He was dressed in a Rocket uniform like the other members, but at the neck you could see where his collar was open to see the front of his neck and the points and the ends of his open collar that was outlined in gold. Up to his knees and down past his elbows were boots and gloves that were an off-white color with a red ring close to the end where you slipped them on. A thick and blocky belt was around his waist that held square pouches for certain things he may have needed.

The man licked his lips. "You know, you've been here for a while…" the girl continued to glare at him, even as he set him self down onto the ground, hanging over his bent knees to look at her at eye level. "I have to make sure you stay quiet until it's a more appropriate time to tell others about what we're doing here."

"And what kind of operation are you running here?" She spat out at him when he tried to reach for her face. He snarled and whipped it away before he grabbed a large chunk of her hair and pulled. She hissed out in pain, but made no other sound for Proton to enjoy from her.

However, he still managed to show her an evil smile in his neon blue eyes. "A quick penny to be made off of pokemon and a delectable meat, nothing more, nothing less." The girl suddenly gasped however when she felt the top part of her shirt was ripped off and whatever she had safely protected behind the cloth was now open for all to see. "But to keep you quiet, I may have to do a few things that your family wouldn't like… but I don't mind, I have no problems with raping minors."

The girl groaned as she was shoved harshly against the rock behind her that she was bound to and all of her shirt was ripped away from her body, and anything that remained under it was long gone as well. With her chest exposed and bare, she finally showed the fear that the man wanted to see upon her face and deeply embedded in her eyes.

His face slithered down close to her own, sliding past it to so his lips touched and pulled on to top of her ear. "Now that's the look I love to see."

"GET OFF ME!" The girl opened her mouth wide and bit down hard on the open flesh of the guy's neck that was exposed to her. He moaned as she bit down on the cords there and grinned before nibbling at her ear again.

"You're not the first one to bite me there." He laughed as he reached for her jeans.

She released his neck, hissing out curses and unmentionable words until a thought crossed her mind and she quieted, almost startling the Rocket Executive. His hands stilled as a sudden grin appeared on her face, nearly as mad as he had been.

"Fine then, so tell me if I'm the first to do this!" She shot her knee upward into the man's crotch and he buckled over and chocked on his pain as the young woman kept smashing the man's balls deeper between his legs until nothing would remain with the hard bone known as her knee.

Proton rolled away from her to protect his manhood from any further damage and looked up to her with enraged eyes. "You bitch…"

It was then that shouting could be heard from close to the entrance of the well. Proton and many of his men looked over in surprise and all collectively gasped when they saw a more elderly man and the member they posted outside at the entrance to the hideout fell from above and crashed in a heap at the entrance.

"Grandpa!" the girl shouted.

"Hey! Are you alright down there old guy?" Another voice came from above and quickly after, young Gwyn and her two pokemon hurried down to the bottom level, sliding on the ladder there to the bottom. She looked around at the cave and operation of Team Rocket's in surprise. "Whoa…"

"Get them!" Proton's voice ran out and it was a frenzy after that. Who would be first to catch the two of them? Or would they be caught at all?

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

The old man that I'd followed down to the bottom of the well sure was a strong old guy. With all the pent up anger from his missing granddaughter and Team Rocket, not to mention all the speed he had from running all the way from in the middle of the town, he knocked down the barricade and the darkly dressed man at the entrance to boot. Both of them went crashing down into the well below. My eyes had widened when that happen and I looked down into the well.

"Hey! Are you alright down there old guy?" I got no response other then a groan from the two. I looked worriedly at my two pokemon I had on hand that were both latched onto my shoulders and they motioned for us to go downwards. I sighed and gently grabbed onto the poles of the ladder and let them slide me down. I didn't have gloves on, so it was going to hurt when I landed.

I gripped the pole harder when I came closer to the bottom and where it had gotten pretty dark and quiet. When I felt my feet hit the ground, I instantly looked around at the dark cave that was below. Hundreds of pokemon were caged up below and I saw the particular pokemon, slowpoke, scattered around or in cages as well, most of them with their tails chopped off. Men in dark uniform like Violet had described before as Team Rocket were scattered about the cave, one in specific that looked slightly different then the others was near a girl who was tired up and her entire top half of her body naked.

"Whoa…" I muttered at the intensity of all the action that was down here.

"Get them!" The differently dressed Rocket shouted. In the next second, all men in black lept from their posts and dashed towards me in an effort to stop me. I gasped then looked over to the old man beside me, he was out cold. If I didn't protect him, then no one would!

"Alright then! If you guys wanna play, let's play!" I looked over to my pokemon and nodded before they jumped off my shoulder. "Start us out Shocker! Use thundershock on all the grunts or as many as possible!" My flaaffy nodded and cried out as it used the move. He screeched out and from his body came thick waves of lighting that hit all the humans in the room head on, knocking them to the ground. None of their pokemon were out, so it was easier to deal with them. "Now Cynder! Use flame wheel and release all the pokemon and that girl!"

Cynder nodded before she jumped into a roll where she was doing continuous summersaults before her body became aflame as she rolled about the bottom of the damp cave. She hit the pad locks on the doors and all the cages burst open and the pokemon rushed out of here like their lives depended on it. I watched Cynder roll over to the girl where she was with the head Rocket here and she hit him head on with her attack while turning her body sideways to cut the rope with one of her claws.

The girl pulled at the ropes and they fell apart. I could physically see her sigh in relief before she hurried over to my side of the room and thanked me. I took off my jacket and handed it to her to cover herself up. She blushed as she saw she was still exposed and used my jacket to cover her top half of her body before she hurried over to her grandfather and helped him sit up.

_Thank_ _Ho-oh… she's alright, and it looks like he is too._ I smiled back at them before Cynder rolled up back before me and I turned to look at the head Rocket getting to his feet. _And now I have to face the head guy, dang it…_

"You little brat!" the Caribbean haired man shouted in anger. "You messed up my entire operation!"

"Well you kidnapped people and pokemon!" I huffed at him. "I think it's a fair trade."

The man looked like he was about to say something else when he suddenly blinked at me in surprise before he almost seemed to calm himself down enough where I saw his evilness pull back through to the surface of his body and face. "You're Gwyn Jalen."

"What of it?" His sudden change in attitude almost frightened me and I unconsciously took a step back from the pure evil written all over his face and merciless glint in his eye.

"The boss lady's been on the hot trail for you and your two buddies." He snorted and called out two pokemon, a koffing and a zubat. The two of them stayed by his side as he snorted a laugh. "It wasn't exactly very smart of you to come here with us after you as it is, but I guess it doesn't matter if we tell you a little bit about ourselves."

Cynder and Shocker both snapped at the man to get on with his speech as I stood worriedly behind them, the situation was starting to scare me.

"My name is Proton; I'm an Executive member of Team Rocket's newly formed team." Proton's smug look never changed in his eyes as he paused and watched my reactions to his words. "We've been working and training here in Johto for the past three years with our boss lady, the old boss' wife, Rose Agustino, Champion Violet's archenemy. As for our goal, I'm not telling." He swung his finger back and forth in its joint at me. "Boss Lady Rose would kill me if I did that, especially to one of our targets. So why don't you be a good little girl and hand over you pokedex and your pokemon before you get hurt more then I'm already going to do to you?"

His threat is what finally shocked me out of my moment of fear. While I was still fearful of him, I couldn't allow him to harm others, nor could I allow him to hurt or torture any kind of pokemon, especially my own. While the two of them were a couple of trouble makers, they were still like best friends and family to me.

"No way!" My fear inside my heart that had kept me froze was now being replaced by my anger and frustration, ready to take him down and kick his butt. "Try and take them from me you jerk!"

"Very well, since you put it that way…" he snorted and looked to his koffing. "Smokescreen." The poison type pokemon nodded before it wheezed and out came the smokescreen. His attack covered the field around him and the area between us while leaving me in the area where I could still see. It made me grin, that attack didn't help him, it would only hurt him.

"Cynder! Use ember!" My fire type nodded and sent her flames from her mouth toward the smoke before us. It made me gasp, however, when I saw the fire go right through it. _This_ _smokescreen doesn't explode? So it only works if it's Cynder's own smokescreen?_ This entirely caught me off guard and I looked around worriedly as the smoke started to make its way closer to us. I suddenly saw a large boulder behind us and turned to Shocker.

"Go and get behind the rock Shocker, I'll meet you there in a second!" My pokemon was about to question me but then thought otherwise when he looked at the area around us. He then nodded and booked it toward the large boulder and stayed behind it as I leaned down closer to my fire type.

"Use your smokescreen attack and then light it with ember. Hide with us behind the bolder after you've blown enough fire for it to ignite." She nodded to me and I kissed the side of her cheek worriedly before I dived backwards towards that bolder and pulled Shocker into my arms and kissed his own forehead in worry as I waited for Cynder. It made me terrified to leave her out there, but we didn't know where Proton or his pokemon was, as long as they hid in the smokescreen, they could attack at any angle that was hidden and stay hidden. Plus, their smokescreen for some reason didn't ignite like Cynder's does. Maybe it was because it was a poison type's smokescreen compared to a fire types? Maybe the fire type's contains some type of flammable material in it that makes it explode? It would make a lot of sense to subdue or catch or kill prey like they have in the past.

I heard my fire type cry out and I could smell the smokescreen that belonged to her, yes I could smell it, sight wasn't the only powerful sense I had. I suddenly hear what almost sounded like a puff of fire being coughed out of her mouth before she rushed back out to where I was and jumped into my arms just as the explosion went off. Heat, fire and smoke were all around us as I held my pokemon closer to my sides.

**Amethyst's Point of View:**

My human sister was watching from within the trees like a fearow when she had learned that not only was Team Rocket below and inside the Slowpoke well, but the young girl that she'd taken a liking to had also been down the there, the girl she knew as Gwyn Jalen. Of course, it made all of our blood's boil to watch our old enemies target our close friends, especially one as young as our human sister had been when all of this dramatic battling and veiled war in this world had begun between our human sister and that corrupt woman.

My eyes suddenly picked up on a flash of red just as a wave of putrid sinners graced my nostrils. I glanced through the corner of my eyes at my human sister. "There on the ground, heading this way from the well."

"Thanks girl," I felt her hand reach up and gently rub her fingers against the side of my face, which I rubbed my chin into before I allowed her to move and make her way to the ground. She borrowed some of my power, using my eyes to track the bastards as they tried to escape from the town.

We both saw them as they approached; it was a decent sized group of them, nearly ten of them or so for a small operation as this. I felt the fire building in the back of my throat, ready to fire on my human sister's signal, as were the others as we silently watched them come closer with their haul in their arms.

"Let's take them out." Our human sister rose to her feet, revealing herself to the members below. The all gasped and froze when they saw her and then us in the trees. "Sapphire, let me borrow some of your power."

"As you wish sister," her voice was gently like the snow as she allowed our human sister to take on her traits and powers. From her arms came elegant icy, sapphire colored wings and feathers while her eyes turned red and her hair turned into the same feathers and coloring as her wings. Her feet turned into darkly colored talons and she leapt into the air before screeching and freezing the ground and each Rocket member's feet to keep them from moving.

All of them were hit by this attack other then the mastermind behind the attack, Proton. He lept out of the way of her attack and into the trees, right where Amber was waiting for him. He gasped and jumped well out of her way as she swung her tail at him before Chalcedony lept off her body toward the human male and chomped his steel like strong teeth into his leg, tearing the flesh and causing the man to scream. He fell to the ground and my human sister landed before him, removing her traits of our ice type sister and Chalcedony took this moment to jump back onto her shoulders.

"Do you want my traits Violet?" our dark type brother questioned her.

"Yes, if you'd be so kind." She absorbed his energy into her body, now changing her hair to black and her skin took on the glowing marks our brother had on his body and her eyes turned to the red and black colors that were just like out brother's. With her intimidating look on, she focused on Proton. "Now," he hissed as she spoke and circled around him like prey and predator. "What is Rose up to this time Proton?"

"You already know that the boss lady wants what the kids have, what else is there to know?" The human played dumb, as if he though our human sister would fall for his tricks.

"Wrong answer." She lifted the male up off the ground with strength he didn't realize she had and began to close off the pathway to his lungs with her hand. "Try again."

"I-I'm (cough) not t-tel-telling y-ou an-any (cough) thing!" Proton struggled to breathe but kept up a strong front, he would not tell us what Rose planned to do.

"Fine then," our humans sister dropped his body only for Ruby to trap his arms under her pincers. "I'll just see if one of your weaker, new members who crack under persuasion, pressure and pain to see what's going on." She looked to the other nine members of the group, looking among them for the most timid and nervous and who would be the easiest to break in this moment.

I saw one of them shiver and shake in absolute fear as he hid behind a female member. "The one hiding behind the female, sister, I believe that would be your best option." I pointed to where they were and our human sister nodded as she grabbed him next dragging him to the front and causing him to drop all his items that scattered over the ground.

"Now let's talk then, shall we?" She gripped his neck harder and I saw his body struggling for breath. "What's Rose up to? Or better yet, where is she and her husband that's she's stowed away?"

"R-" he began but began coughing. My human sister loosened her hold on him and glared at him with her devilish eyes she borrowed from our brother.

"Again."

"Ra-adi-io w-wav-ves," he choked out.

That caused us all to blink. "Radio waves? What is Rose planning to do with radio waves? How does that help her?"

The grunt was about to speak again when a flash of light appeared before Ruby and a sudden koffing appeared before it hit Ruby in the head and forced her to loosen her grip enough for the man to escape her grip. He called out to his pokemon to use smokescreen and the entire field was soon covered in a black smoke. I heard my sisters and brothers coughing as we bore through it and heard shifting and running while I tried to use my wings to blow away the smoke.

"Damn it!" My human sister hissed and once I saw her again, I saw that we were all alone, the evil men and women had escaped from our grasp and into the forest, and it would be hard for us to find them, even with our heightened senses. "They got away!"

"My apologies sister, it was my fault for their escape, I was distracted by your interrogation." Ruby hung her head in shame. "I assure you it won't happen again." Her body shook in rage and upset and she couldn't face our human sister or look her in the eyes.

Our human sister blinked and looked back at our bug type sister who stood there in anger, waiting for our human sister's judgment. Our human sister has never struck us, nor given us a reason to fear her, so I doubt anything would take place where she would hurt Ruby. If she ever did, then I couldn't be her sister or pokemon anymore.

"It's alright Ruby, it's not your fault. I wasn't paying enough attention; he caught you off-guard." She gently placed her hands over Ruby's pincers. "Next time, I promise we'll get them for sure. We'll all have to be on guard next time, every chance we have to catch them counts as to protect others from getting hurt and dragged into their schemes."

"What should we do now Sissy Violet?" Zircon questioned our human sister.

"I'm going to go check on the people in Azalea Town and the Slowpoke Well to make sure they're all alright. After that, I'm going to pin point all the locations on the kids to make sure they're alright. Tristan is the one I'm mostly worried about, he keeps well ahead of the other two. And Gwyn, she seems to be getting in as much trouble as I seemed to get into at that age. Aaron I'm the least worried about, but it still does good to check on him. Lets start at the well, Team Rocket's operation was there so it would be a good place to start with and clean up their-" our sister was suddenly cut off when we saw and explosion come out of the Slowpoke Well. Our human sister's eyes widened when she saw it and saw the large amount of regular and poisonous smoke.

"Gwyn!"

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

I coughed as I inhaled a large amount of the smoke filled air around us, not able to hold it any longer. I could taste the vile poison in it and coughed some more as I tried to look around for my pokemon. They were right in my lap as they had been before the explosion; they clung to my waist in fear. I slowly leaned down and kissed both their foreheads and they looked up at me as I suddenly had another coughing fit.

"Quil!" Cynder freaked as she saw me slump against the rock. "Quil! Quil!"

"Flaaff!" Shocker and Cynder I could hear crying out for help. "Flaaff! Flaaff! Flaaffy!"

"Gwyn!" My vision blurred as I heard a female voice. I watched as a few different shades of purple and black entered my vision. "Can you hear me?"

"Violet?" My voice sounded slurred as the poison started to take its course through my body.

I felt her somehow pick me up from the ground and carry me in her arms. "Hang on Hon; I'm getting you out of here!" I suddenly felt my body moving as blackness came over me, sending me to the world of darkness within my own mind.

**Aaron's Point of View:**

I hated just sitting around.

But to make matters worse, my best friend just ran off after an old man and I'm stuck behind worrying if she's alright or not while watching over her egg that she suddenly thrust in my arms before she took off. It had to deal with an old man, his granddaughter and Team Rocket.

The thought suddenly hit me. _Of course! That's why she went off by herself! She wanted to keep me safe from them!_ It made me feel guilty that I'd never figured it out. I shook my head in worry before leaning it against one of my hands that wasn't holding the egg wrapped in a blanket.

I suddenly heard my pokeballs open and I looked out before me. My three pokemon stood there with worried looks and softly asked if I was okay.

"No I'm not," I sighed before I felt a set of tears coming. "Gwyn took off to stop a bunch of bad guys and to protect me and I'm sitting around here while she's gone!"

"Bay!" Bayleef hit me on the head with his leaf. "Bay bayleef!"

My eyes suddenly widened and I looked at him in surprise. "Of course! I'll go help her!" I was about to leave when I stopped and turned back to my pokemon. "Wait, what about Gwyn's egg? I can't take it with me, it may break and she'll never forgive me!"

"Bzzt!" Beedrill took the egg gently from me and sat it and himself on the bench that I'd been sitting on.

"You mean you'll watch it Beedrill?" My bug pokemon nodded and I grinned at him. "Thanks bud! I'm gonna take Bayleef and Pidgeotto and go find Gw-"

"_Nurse Joy to back gate, emergency, poison in humans and pokemon. I repeat, Nurse Joy to back gate, emergency, poison in humans and pokemon._" I blinked before I felt my blood run cold and I rushed to the front with my pokemon following behind me, Beedrill carrying the egg.

Once I got to the back where the nurse and her assistants were, I saw them, the old man, a young girl that looked like his granddaughter with Gwyn's jacket on, and then I saw her. Gwyn was there, situated on a table just like the others were that were being rolled in as quickly as possible with her two pokemon on there with her, Shocker and Cynder. I turned back to look where'd they come from when I saw a cloaked figure run off from the back door where Gwyn and those other two people came from.

_Who was that person? Did they save Gwyn? _My attention I quickly turned away from that person though and looked back in the direction where they quickly took Gwyn off to. _Hang on Gwyn! I'm coming!_

**Witch's Note:**

**Wow, here we go again with Team Rocket doing things they shouldn't! (And what an awful person Proton is! I hope Gwyn watches out! He may tear her apart next time!) And Gwyn got in the middle of that one! Anyone guess what really happened? It's not that hard to figure out, but I know sometimes people don't always understand the hints I give in my writing, so rest assured, all shall be explained next time when we have Gwyn awaken!**

**So, to all of you, my dear readers and reviewers, I ask you with all kindness and what not to please send Reviews and any Questions for the Q's & A's chapter at the end!**

**Love you all and see you next week!**

_**Halloween Witch**_


	6. Encountering Tristan

_Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage_

_Chapter 6: Encountering Tristan_

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

When I felt myself come to, I groaned at the headache I felt in all areas of my brain. I turned my head gently to the side and it seemed to hurt worse. I settled back into my head being upright and the back of it against a pillow. I lifted my hand and rubbed it over my temple to try and remove some of the pain.

"Quil!"

"Flaa!"

I cracked open my eyes and watched as my two pokemon came into view. Both Cynder and Shocker were looking at me in worry as I continued to rub my temple before I fought off the pain and sat up. I had to close my eyes from how much it hurt.

"Oww…" I groaned.

"Well that's a big frickin' duh, you were the one who decided to go off on your own to face Team Rocket and get poisoned by them." I felt someone push their hand lightly on my shoulder back onto the bed and I was able to open my eyes this time. Aaron sat there next to my bed with his own pokemon and my egg in hand.

"What time is it?" I sighed as I tried to wave off the dizziness in my vision that was now coming at me full force. "Better yet, what's the date?"

"It's been a few days since you were in the Slowpoke Well and Team Rocket tricked you to get out of there." Aaron handed me the clipboard at the end of my bed. "You were also poisoned in there. You and the girl, old man, Cynder and Shocker all had to be treated for it."

"I was?" I looked at the chart he gave me and noted that he was right, I had been poisoned. _But_ _how? The last few things I remembered was that the Rocket Executive had used smokescreen by his pokemon that, I was shocked, didn't burn when fire hit it like the smokescreen Cynder uses…!_

"That's it! It was that Rocket Executive's koffing!" The daze was finally starting to wear off now and I sat up. "It was his koffing that let out a smokescreen to escape, since it was created by a poison type, it must have has some poisonous gases mixed in it which is why it didn't blow up when Cynder blew fire at it, only smokescreen by a fire type can do that! And oww my head hurts!" I let my body fall back onto the bed while I tried to milk away the pain. Aaron sighed while my pokemon tried to make me feel better.

"That's what you get for going in alone." I blinked in surprise as he said that before he crossed his arms while he set the egg on the bed so I could take it from him. "You should have let me go with you! We're only beginning trainers Gwyn! You could have seriously been hurt! Or raped! Or who knows what else!"

"Excuse me?" I snapped at the boy, but he didn't seem to falter. "You think I couldn't handle them?" I sniffled and turned away from him. "It hurts that you don't believe in me Aaron…"

"Gwyn! I'm not trying to be your enemy here, but you should have known better! We're not strong enough to take on Team Rocket right now!"

"Violet was!" I grabbed the egg and held it close to my chest as the tears flowed from my eyes. "Violet was attacked on the dang first day of her trainer career and she took down the entire organization!"

"But that's Violet Vilmos! We're not her!"

"It doesn't mean that we shouldn't help out when others needed our help! Were you just going to let that old man get hurt while trying to save his granddaughter?"

"Well… no… but-"

"But nothing Aaron! Even if I might have lost to them, at least I would have tried and bought some time for the police to arrive! _You_ should have known better then to just wait around here in town!"

"What was I supposed to do? You threw your egg at me and took off to who knows where! I couldn't just leave it, what if it hatched?"

"Then I would have dealt with that when I got back, but I just couldn't sit by and let them hurt others!" In fury and in pain and anger, my hand whipped forward toward his face. "_You should understand since I lost my dad!_"

The room got silent after that. Aaron and I had both lost the will to fight with each other after that last comment and motion. My childhood best friend held his cheek in shock while he gazed at my sobbing body as I held my egg and my pokemon curled in my sides, trying to calm me down.

"Gwyn… I'm so sorry… I didn't know…" Aaron tried to say something to make up for what he said before, but it was far too late. "Gywn… I was so worried about you that-"

"Get out…" He froze at the words I spat out at him. "Get out! I can't think straight right now! Get out!"

"Gwyn, wait!" Aaron raised himself to his feet and tried to reach for me and I shrunk away from him. "Gwyn! Let me explain-"

"_Get out!_" I screamed at him. "Get out of here! Just go away! I don't want to talk or see you right now! Get out!"

Aaron tried to make another move at me but this time my pokemon got between us. Shocker sparked his ears and tail while Cynder's body was in flames. Aaron backed away from them and just before he got to the door, a nurse rushed inside.

"I heard screaming, what's going on here?" She took one look at Aaron and then over at me before she gasped. "Oh my..."

"Get out! All of you _get out_!" I screamed again and Shocker finally jumped before me and started letting loose larger electric charges. "Just get out and leave me alone!" Shocker let loose and electricity went all over the place. It fried most of the entire room, and especially the door that Aaron and the nurse had hidden themselves behind.

When he was done and his sparking had ended, I pulled him into my arms and he instantly relaxed there while I cried into his wooly coat.

"Let's get out of here." Both of my pokemon looked at me worriedly before I got up from my bed and found my bag and clothes on the side of the room that wasn't totally destroyed and changed out of the hospital gown.

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

Without waiting on anyone else's consent for me to go, I'd left the hospital with Cynder, Shocker and my egg. We were on our way to the gym to face Bugsy Arachnie, the gym leader here in town to get my mind off what happened with Aaron and get more focused on moving forward. I hadn't exactly said much since we left, no had anyone tried to talk to me as I roamed around town in search of the gym. It was nice to have the sweet silence to clear my head, and it made me re-think my actions that I threw out toward Aaron. _He was only worried, I shouldn't have been so hard on him… then again… he had no right to doubt me either, I might not be Champion Violet, heck I wouldn't want to be exactly like her, that would just be wrong, but unlike him, I can't just sit around and let others suffer when it's possible to help them._

I kept second guessing myself. I couldn't make heads or tails if I should forgive Aaron and blame myself for being so stupid, or if I shouldn't and blame him for not having any faith in me and not helping others. I hated how I kept doing this since it only hindered me when I kept constantly looking back on the past when there was no need and the conflict or problem had been resolved. But my brain and my heart could just never let it go; it always kept thinking how things should have gone differently. My father used to say it would be my hindrance and my salvation at one point or another and to be careful with this apparent gift of mine.

I sighed and finally looked down at my pokemon that were walking at my side. Poor Cynder and Shocker kept their heads low until they felt my gaze on them. I bent down on my hands and knees and kissed both their foreheads. They looked up at me, shocked to see my mood had changed.

"Sorry for making you guys worry so much, I just needed some time to cool down." I took a deep breath before I looked over at the side and there appeared the gym before me, not magically or anything, but I finally noticed that we'd just been walking around it in circles since the beginning, which must have been what worried them so much. "Alright, now that my head's on a bit more right, let's go challenge Bugsy and get our second badge."

Both of them agreed easily and Shocker begged me to let him face the gym leader first. Cynder didn't seem to mind at all, all she cared about at that moment was myself, so she didn't care who went first, only what I wanted. I didn't particularly care at all, so I let Shocker do as he pleased and allowed him to go first in the battle. We entered the gym, ready for a good battle, and a good way for me to blow off some left over steam that may still be inside me from earlier.

Once we were side, I was shocked to see that there were trees inside this gym, there also was webs and nests around, that meant that fighting with Cynder would be effective here, but I didn't want anyone getting hurt that shouldn't be in the battle. Cynder noticed this and let the flames on her back get thinner and lower, right against her skin to make sure she didn't light anything on fire.

Shocker didn't seem to mind the layout, though that didn't surprise me since he grew up in areas such as this and probably knew how to work in it well. Bug types are all around the region in forest like areas, so he likely knew how to get around them or how to deal with them.

"Awesome! My next challenger finally arrived! ...But wait, I thought you were in the hospital?" I looked ahead to a trainer box across the room from me in the middle of this forest like area, there was a kid about my age that seemed to carry a large net, had cropped and layered purple hair, blue eyes and a green researcher's outfit. He worriedly watched me on the other side of the apparent field we were now on either sides of.

"I know, I left." I shrugged at him, feeling the dread from the fight earlier on taking its effect on me, dampening my mood slightly. "I felt fine, so I got out of there. I'm perfectly capable of battling if that's what you're worried for."

"Well… if you're sure…"

"I am." I looked over to Shocker. "Let's go Shocker, you're up." My flaaffy nodded and stepped out onto the field. His cheeks sparked and his tail swung back and forth as he grinned over at the kid gym leader.

"If you say so." The young gym leader pulled out a pokeball. "But I don't plan on going easy on you just because you're a girl and you just got out of the hospital!"

"Good, it'd make me feel worse then I already do about myself if you did." He blinked a time or two and I waved it off. "I had an argument with my best friend before I left the hospital. Ignore what I said and let's start this battle."

"Al…right then?" The trainer scratched the side of his head in confusion before he pulled out a pokeball. "And just so you know, all the greenery in here is just a set to help out my pokemon, no other pokemon lives in here, so you don't have to worry about hurting them." I nodded, inwardly sighing in relief that I don't have to be as careful as I thought we'd have to be. "So let's go Kakuna!"

Out from his pokeball came that cocooned brownish yellow pokemon with entirely black eyes that watched Shocker with a calm demeanor. Shocker tried to stare him down, but the cocoon pokemon didn't exactly have to work hard at starting back at my pokemon.

"Calm down Shocker, you'll get your chance to blast him." My pokemon broke its eye contract with the pokemon and joined it with me for a moment before he nodded and turned back to the field. My wool pokemon was ready to fight.

"First move to the challenger," Bugsy told me while gesturing to the field.

_He's really going to regret that._ I shook my head at my own though before I felt myself almost connect with Shocker as he waited in anticipation for my order. "Alright Shocker, lets start off with thundershock!" My electric pokemon nodded and he grinned before sending a wild amount of charges over at the cocoon pokemon.

"Kakuna, use harden!" I saw a flash appear over the cocoon pokemon before the sparks and charges hit it head on, it hadn't moved an inch. It flinched slightly from the shock that it took and the electricity that jumped across its body, but other then that, it stood strong.

"Uh oh…" This was not good, and I don't mean for myself.

"Ha! You think that only that little attack would stop my Kakuna?" Bugsy laughed as he looked out to his pokemon. "I guess we don't have to worry about the electric pokemon after all!"

I flinched as I watched a vein literally snap on Shocker's forehead, just under the white patch of wool on the top of his head, before he snarled and hissed before he started gathering up a whole lot of electricity. His body nearly turned a yellowish white from all the electricity that he had stored around it.

I sighed, _well, there's no way to stop him now, better just go with it_. "Shocker, use thundershock!" Shocker unleashed all his energy onto the kakuna and fried it to the point where I thought I saw its eyes nearly pop out of its body. Bugsy stood in shock as his pokemon was fried.

Eventually, Shocker let up on the attack, keeping stored what energy he had left while storing some more for later on. He huffed at the other pokemon as it fell over and was charcoaled blacker then its own onyx eyes. I couldn't even tell if it had eyes when it was done. I sighed once more as I watched my aggressive pokemon huff and puff about. _Well, that's Shocker for you…_

"Okay… maybe I should have thought that a bit more through." Bugsy slightly cowered as he was suddenly placed under the gaze of my pokemon.

"Well, what can I say?" I shrugged at him. "Shocker has a real problem with losing or anything about him being called weak. You might want to be a bit more careful from now on."

"Right…" He returned his pokemon to its pokeball and then pulled lout another. "Let's go Metapod!" Out next came the green cocooned pokemon with white eyes and black irises. It lounged about before it stuck itself to a tree and cowered from Shocker. Shocker huffed at that and a gentle beam of lighting next to it from his pent of electricity and anger, instantly frying the tree and causing it to turn to dust. The metapod flipped out and leapt back as fast as it could to Bugsy's arms.

"Shocker! He's afraid to battle, calm down!" My electric pokemon's ears fell and he instantly calmed himself. I sighed. "I'm sorry for shouting, but the poor pokemon is afraid to battle, let it be and don't torment it."

"Flaa…" he apologized over to the pokemon and it nodded, but it still shook in terror and fear of him.

"Its okay Metapod, the fact that you were willing to try was good enough, we'll work on this later and what not, Scyther will avenge you and Kakuna." Bugsy returned his pokemon and pulled out another pokeball.

"A scyther?" I blinked at that and pulled out my pokedex to hear about that pokemon. The pokedex showed me a large bug pokemon that had condensed wings, edged with the coloring of its entire body, a bright green. It was apparently much taller then myself and had red colored eyes. Spikes were on the back of its head and its arms were actual scythes.

_Scyther, the mantis pokemon. It slashes through grass with its sharp scythes, moving too fast for the human eye to track. It hides in grass; its protective coloration makes it invisible. Scyther nests are very rare and tend to only be seen on occasion in the National Park._

I heard Bugsy throw out his pokeball and out came the bug pokemon he spoke of just a moment ago. It was the same one that was described on my pokedex. "Scyther!" It cried out and scratched its blades against one another.

"Whoa…" My eyes widened at actually seeing the pokemon up close like I was now. Even Shocker took a slight step back once seeing the pokemon in person before he puffed out his cheeks and stepped forward ready to fight.

Shocker would only have part of an advantage in this fight. Scyther's from, from what I saw on the pokedex information told me, was a bug and flying type, so Shocker would have the advantage of electricity over flying. On the other hand, Shocker isn't as fast, and this pokemon has lighting fast abilities with its speed. If we can't hit it, then it doesn't matter if we had the type advantage or not.

"Shocker, I'm not sure if you can handle this pokemon's speed, but if you wanna try, I'm not going to stop you. What do you want to do?" I questioned my pokemon as he actually pondered for a moment to think about fighting this battle. Even in the short amount of time I knew Shocker, he never did that.

My pokemon finally nodded to me and looked out onto the field, ready to face the scyther. I sighed and nodded, almost relieved at his answer. _Now that's the Shocker I know and love. _I felt my heart calming itself now, all my previous pent up emotions and anger seemed to be slipping away from me as the battle drew on further and came to its close. _It_ _seems that battling and my pokemon can really help me get over my emotional moments, that's good, I'm going to need help like that in the future._

"Alright Shocker, let's start this out with thundershock!" My flaaffy nodded and sent more of his left over charge at the bug pokemon before us. In an instant the pokemon was gone while the attack merely hit the ground. "It avoided it? Man that's fast!"

"Flaa!" I quickly turned my head to the side and saw where the scyther came out of nowhere and started to swing its blades at Shocker. The first one he managed to miss before all the rest of them afterward kept hitting him.

"That's it Scyther!" Bugsy called. "Keep using fury cutter!"

That's it! A sudden plan to hit this pokemon suddenly came to find and I turned to the field where Shocker was taking a beating. "Shocker! Grab onto any part of the scyther you can!" Shocker nodded through the pain as he kept getting hit by the blades, leaving cuts all over his body. He suddenly grabbed onto the blade of the scyther with his mouth and teeth and hung on for dear life as the thing tried to throw him off. The big pokemon suddenly lifted itself into the air and threw its arm around into any wall it could reach, or the ground should it have gotten close enough, and threw Shocker into every one of them. But still he hung on, waiting on my order.

_I never knew that battles were this gruesome… I'm shocked that people aren't scared by it._ These sudden thoughts made me think back to the first time I met Violet, when she told me I'd never faced a real battle yet when she saved from that pidgey and hoothoot flock. _Was this what she was talking about, or was there even more to it?_

"FLAA!" I was shaken from my thoughts when Shocker called out to me, he seemed to just barely be hanging on now with his arms, lets, tail and mouth while I had pondered for too long.

"Sorry Shocker! Use thundershock now!" I saw my flaaffy sigh before he unleashed all his energy into that attack.

"Scyther! Get out of there! Knock that flaaffy off!" But it was too late, even Bugsy knew it as he shouted out. Shocker took and fried the bug pokemon as it continued to fly about in the air still trying to knock it off, but soon was taken in too much by the attack and had taken on too much damage. It stuttered and cried out before its wings stopped working and it fell from the sky above to the ground. Shocker leapt off its body just it time as it landed and he breathed heavily as he watched the dust cloud swarm around the scyther.

"Are you alright Shocker?" My pokemon nodded his head as he got to his feet and breathed heavily as he watched the bug pokemon squirm in discomfort from the attack. It still somehow got back up to its feet and twitched about its wings, trying to get up into the air again.

"Hang in there Scyther!" Bugsy called out.

"Let's finish this up Shocker! Thundershock!" Shocker cried out and from his body came another wave of electricity that sparked about in the air as it zipped it way up to the scyther. It hit the pokemon dead on through one of its wings and the pokemon was turned black because of it.

"Scyther!" Bugsy called out to his pokemon, but was down for the count. I let out a sigh of relief as I realized the battle was over and we'd won.

"We did it Shocker! And I feel a whole bunch better then when we first came in here!" My electric type turned back to me and nodded while it wobbled over to us. Cynder jumped from my side and slid her body under Shocker's to help him over to me. He tiredly looked up at me and I pulled out his pokeball. "You did great Shocker, I'll take you back to the pokemon center and get you all healed up before we head out to the forest, I really don't want to stay here longer then we have to, and I know you don't want to be in your pokeball much at all, but I don't have many more free hands." I kissed his forehead and sighed, whispering by his ear, "and I really don't want to face Aaron just yet."

My pokemon nodded to me and relaxed in my arms before Cynder jumped up onto my shoulder and I returned Shocker to his pokeball. Bugsy returned his own pokemon to its pokeball and then hurried over to me while I shifted my egg wrapped in blankets in my arms.

"Okay, as weird as the conversation we had before this battle, it was one of the best battles I've ever had." Bugsy told me once he stepped before me. "This battle with you showed me a lot that I need to work on to become stronger. Thanks for showing me that." He then paused for a moment and tilted his head in confusion. "By the way, what's your name? I don't think I asked you that."

"It's Gwyn Jalen," I told him. "Falkner told me he's let you know I was coming your way."

"Oh yeah! Duh! I should've remembered that!" Bugsy shook his head sighed. "Man I should have remembered that! I even knew it was you when I asked you why you left the hospital earlier today, but I guess I blanked out during the battle."

I shook my head at him. "Don't worry about it Bugsy, it happens every now and then."

"Yeah well… I hope giving you my badge maybe will make up for it." He held out his hand before me and opened it to reveal a badge that looked like the spotted back of a ledyba's back, entirely red with a little sliver of black at the top and three dots on it that were also black. "My badge is called the hive badge, respectively after bug types."

"It's an honor to get this from you Bugsy." I took the badge from him and put it into badge case with the help of Cynder who got it out of my bag and opened it for me. "And thanks for helping me calm down from earlier. I was really mad at Aaron."

"Aaron? As in Aaron Verin?" Bugsy asked and I nodded. "I battled him yesterday when he came by here and you were still resting in the hospital, he was really worried about you."

"He told me that too, but not in as pretty words as apparently he told you," I told him sourly and Cynder got a bit growly on my shoulder. Bugsy help up his hands in defense.

"Relax, I was just telling you what he told me. Wait," Bugsy stopped for a moment. "Was he the guy that made you all upset earlier today?"

I puffed out an angry huff of air. "Yep, and I don't want to see him again for a _long_ while." I sighed and turned away from the gym leader. "I'm sorry for being so mean Bugsy, but today has been painfully taxing on me, Aaron brought up some things that he promised to never bring up and I just would rather put off the subject for now." I headed out toward the exit. "Thanks for the battle, and good-bye."

I didn't give the trainer a chance to question me at all before I all but ran out of his gym and headed anywhere but back there. I hated being an emotional person, even more I think then a normal girl. Tears already formed on the edges of my eyes as the conversations were replaying over in my head.

_"That's what you get for going in alone. You should have let me go with you! We're only beginning trainers Gwyn! You could have seriously been hurt! Or raped! Or who knows what else!"_

_"Excuse me? You think I couldn't handle them? It hurts that you don't believe in me Aaron…"_

_"Gwyn! I'm not trying to be your enemy here, but you should have known better! We're not strong enough to take on Team Rocket right now!"_

_"Violet was! Violet was attacked on the dang first day of her trainer career and she took down the entire organization!"_

_"But that's Violet Vilmos! We're not her!"_

_"It doesn't mean that we shouldn't help out when others needed our help! Were you just going to let that old man get hurt while trying to save his granddaughter?"_

_"Well… no… but-"_

_"But nothing Aaron! Even if I might have lost to them, at least I would have tried and bought some time for the police to arrive! You should have known better then to just wait around here in town!"_

_"What was I supposed to do? You threw your egg at me and took off to who knows where! I couldn't just leave it, what if it hatched?"_

_"Then I would have dealt with that when I got back, but I just couldn't sit by and let them hurt others! __**You should understand since I lost my dad!**__"_

_"Gwyn… I'm so sorry… I didn't know… Gywn… I was so worried about you that-"_

_"Get out… Get out! I can't think strait right now! Get out!"_

_"Gwyn, wait! Gwyn! Let me explain-"_

_"Get out! Get out of here! Just go away! I don't want to talk or see you right now! Get out!"_

_"Get out! All of you get out! Just get out and leave me alone!"_

It hurt. It hurt so much to keep hearing those words in my head. My breathing started to get labored and I kept rubbing my eyes to rid myself of the tears, but no matter how furiously I did away with the old ones, more new ones just kept falling from my swollen eyes.

"Whoa, that's quite a bit of water works there little miss." I halted mid-step and looked up at the man that was before me. It was the same one that I'd seen a few days ago with his two granddaughters where one of them had been trapped in the well by Team Rocket. The two girls were situated on either side of him and they all looked at me concerned like.

"Hey," the older girl that had been kidnapped said. "Why don't you come over to our house, we'd like to thank you for what you've done for us… and we can help you clean up a bit."

I just wanted to forget all those painful words said, so I nodded to her and allowed her and her family to lead me back to their house on the edge of town before the forest that led to the next large city.

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"So that's what happened." The older girl, one that I've come to learn was named Kala, said to me at their table situated in an older style, more workshop then house like home. Kala had assured me that it was more house like upstairs, but they're grandfather worked down here most of the time, making appricorns into special pokeballs that trainers use to catch certain pokemon. His name was Kurt, while the younger granddaughter's name was Kaylee. "What do you plan to do now?"

"Head into the forest, I guess. I don't plan on staying here overnight and have another chance for Aaron to tell me how wrong it was for me to go and save you and make sure no one else got hurt." The girl looked at me with a pair of sad, yet understanding eyes and she placed a hand of her own over mine that was on the table, still gently having a hold over my egg.

"_I'm_ glad you came to the well; if you hadn't… well… lets just say it would've been a little hard to walk straight for a while." The girl turned back to her sister. "Hey Kaylee! Is her pokemon done healing yet?"

"Oh yeah Sissy, he's all set!" Her younger sister had been kind enough to use a personal healing machine like that in the pokemon center's to heal my wounded pokemon from my battle with Bugsy so I wouldn't have to go to the pokemon center. She handed over my single pokeball that I'd given her and out popped my electric type once it was in my hands. He shook out his wool and grinned when he saw me, happily finding room someplace in the edge of my arms to curl up into and rest for a short while.

"Nice to see you too Shocker." I then released him and the egg on the table and pulled forward my bag to pull out the appricorns that I'd gathered before. "Here, give these to your grandfather so he can make them into pokeballs to hand out to other trainers."

"You mean you don't want them?" Kala asked, quite shocked if I do say so.

"I'm _not_ staying in town." I sighed as I pushed the strange fruit toward her. "As much as I would have loved the pokeballs to use in the future, I do not have the time to stick around and wait for them to be made. So please take these and I better get going." I lifted myself from the chair of their home and my pokemon easily stood after me, ready to get going in the dead of night.

"Just hang on a second Gwyn! Please?" Kala begged me. I was startled a bit by her sudden outburst so I continued to stand there and she took that as I sign that I'd wait. She rushed over to her grandfather's side and pushed at him. "Grandpa! She's going to leave! Aren't you done yet?"

"Almost… there! Done!" The elder man proudly finished and put down the pokeball he was working on before putting it and a few others into a small bag with a card in it as well and then handing them off to his granddaughter, who she in turn put them in my bag. "Here is one of every kind of pokeball I can make from the different appriconrs that I had left over, I hope this will help you on your journey and assist you, and also pay as a little thank you for saving my granddaughter, myself and all the pokemon in town"

It took me a moment to reply, but after that, I nodded to them. "I better get going now, thanks for the pokeballs and I'll try to visit again when things are under better terms with my friend and I."

I ducked out of their home before I received a reply.

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

I ran as fast as I could away from their house and in the dark edges of the town as I headed toward the forest that led away from here and to the north. My pokemon had gotten tired and I'd returned them to their pokeballs to rest while I planned to head into the woods and find us a good spot to rest of the night. As soon as I got close to the gate I had to pass through to get into the forest, I saw a shadowy figure moving around through the woods that was going to go around the building. As soon as I saw a flash of red from the figure's hair, I followed after them, knowing fully well who it was.

Tristan took off and ducked behind a few sets of trees before three pokemon released themselves from his belt. The first one I recognized as a zubat, the poison and flying type little bat pokmeon that was a dark blue color and didn't have any eyes.

The other two I didn't recognize that much other then the one that looked similar to tododile that was still blue and reptile like, but was now taller and had a bit of a tummy on it along with almost a caveman set of cloth over its body, colored tan with darker large dots on it. I pulled out my pokedex to see what it said on this pokemon. _Croconaw, the big jaw pokemon and the evolved form of tododile. It opens its huge jaws wide when attacking. If it loses any fangs while biting, they grow back in. There area always forty-eight fangs lining its mouth. There are no croconaw nests in this region._

I blinked, Tristan and Tododile must have gotten along really well if it was able to evolve. I shook my head and then looked over at the last of his pokemon. It was dark in coloring, a black floating head of some sorts with a dark purple gas like fog that hovered around its body, but didn't fog out the face for me to see, it also had bright white eyes and a black pupil. I turned my pokedex to it next. _Ghastly, the gas pokemon, With its gas-like body, it can sneak into any place it desires. However, it can be blown away by the wind. Despite lacking substance, it can envelop an opponent of any size and cause suffocation. Ghastly nests are few in this region and tend to only be found at night in these locations: Sprout Tower, Bell Tower and the Safari Zone in Cianwood._

I suddenly felt a hand reach out and slammed itself over my mouth and it pushed me forward further into the side woods that led into the forest. With my mouth still covered I was then twisted around and thrown into the nearest tree to us. My eyes met with the dark black ones, who's white iris nearly glowed in the night with anger and confusion as they glared a me.

"What the hell are you doing out here?" Tristan growled. "And why are you following me?"

I couldn't exactly speak with his hand over my mouth. He seemed to realize this a moment later and looked at me intently, his glare becoming harsher.

"I'll pull my hand away, but you better not scream." I nodded to him and he slowly pulled his hand away, placing it against the tree to trap me between him and the leafy growth of nature. "Now answer my questions."

"I was bringing this back to you." I slipped my hand into my pocket to pull out his card when he took one of his hands and shoved it in there as well, making sure I wasn't calling someone. I gasped at first and blushed at his action, but he showed through his eyes that he wasn't playing around. I quickly pushed my feelings to the back of my mind and I pulled out the trainer card that I'd kept from the police. I pushed it into his hand and I pulled his hand out with the card in it so he could see for himself. When he looked at the card and then back to me a few times, his face softened to that of a surprised look.

"Wh-what?" he stuttered as he looked at the small piece of plastic. "But I thought…"

"I didn't give it to the police if that's what your wondering." I sighed and relaxed into the back of the tree. "I told them I'd only gotten a quick glimpse at it before you snatched it from my hands and ran off. I would have gotten it back to you sooner, but you ran off the last time I ran into you before I could give it back." Tristan didn't say anything as he took and pocketed the card in his hands.

"Do you know what my real name is?" he finally asked me after a moment.

"Only you're first name, but only with the help of a friend did I figure it out." His eyes lit up like a blazing fire when I said that and he grabbed the base of my neck, but he didn't grip it harshly. It startled me and I used my only hand to grip his wrist should I have needed to pull his hand away.

"What is my name?" I could feel his body shaking through his fingers as he questioned me.

"Tristan," I replied softly. He tensed and his body shook more as the rage and fire grew in his eyes.

"And who helped you figure out my name?"

"I don't know her last name-" he cut me off with his fingers slightly squeezing in more on my neck and I couldn't move them away with his overpowering strength. "But I know her first name, its Violet."

He suddenly froze and his hand instantly came backward, releasing me. He also leaned away and I was free to run, but I didn't. "Violet?" he questioned me. "As in Violet Vilmos? The champion of Kanto?"

"I don't know, I'm not good at putting faces to names, plus, I haven't seen a picture of the champion or a video of her since over a year and a half ago."

"What about her pokemon? You _must_ have seen at least one of them or know their names."

"Well, I saw two of her pokemon, her raichu named Amber and her umbreon named Chalcedony-" I suddenly cut myself off when I realized what was going on. Champion Violet has those exact same pokemon and exact same names on her team, and the rest of her pokemon never came out since they didn't like too… or maybe it was so that Violet Vilmos was never found by the public.

Tristan seemed to notice too that I'd finally figured it out and took a step back from me. "So Violet knows I'm here?"

"I think she's known for a while," I whispered gently. "She's been searching endlessly for you for a long time, but at some point, I think she found you, but saw how happy you were to be free from your past that she didn't want to hurt you and left you be." I looked away from him and turned my eyes to the ground. "She's been protecting us all she can from Team Rocket you know."

His eyes widened when I uttered that name and he shoved me painfully back against the tree, his wrists gripped tightly at my upper arms, startling me and almost forcing me to drop my egg. Both of my pokeball's opened up and out came Cynder and Shocker who angrily stood at my feet, ready to hit Tristan with all they had. His pokemon then came around him, ready to hit them.

"Stop it! All of you back off!" I used my foot to push back my pokemon and prevent them from attacking. "Everyone is alright, no one is hurting anyone!" My pokemon growled, but stayed at my feet, Tristan's pokemon also continued to keep growling, but did indeed back up behind his feet. I looked back up to Tristan's face. He still had a furious look on his face.

"What are you talking about?"

"Team Rocket's been after our pokemon and our pokedex since just about day one that we started our journeys." I felt my chest swell with sadness and fear when I thought back to what happened in the cave, and what it led to today. "You were going to be attacked on the day you'd left Violet City, a small group of them were going to ambush you and she hit them up for information. You, me, and Aaron, we're all their newest targets. Violet told me first, and then Proton did in the Slowpoke Well when I faced them."

"_What?_" I whipped my head around to the side and my eyes widened when I saw that it was Aaron who stood over to the edge of the woods. "You _lied_ to me!"

"Aaron…" _Oh miltank crud…_

"So you feel satisfied with telling him that Team Rocket's been chasing us but not me!" He stomped up toward us and Tristan backed off into the woods and out of his reach while he closed in on me. "You choose a total stranger over your best friend that you've known for years? Yeah, thanks for telling me! And what the hell is up with you keeping that trainer card? You should have given that to the police! That's against the law!"

Tears streamed down my cheeks and I turned away from him. "I don't need to explain myself to you!" I turned to walk away from him when I felt his hand grip around my upper arm, painfully. "Let me go!"

"_Hey!_" I turned my head and so did Aaron and Tristan. A young man began running toward us with a large group of police behind him heading toward us. "_Stop that! All of you cut it out!_"

I sucked in my breath before I reared my foot backward toward Aaron where it hit him where it hurts and he dropped to the ground before I felt his hand release me and I took off into the woods, ignoring the post gate that I should have passed to the side of me as I jumped over an old fence that led into the Ilex Forest.

"Stop!" I heard the voice fade as I rushed faster into the forest. I suddenly heard a rustling to the side of me and I turned worriedly to see Tristan keeping up with me, his pokemon must have been all returned to their pokeballs other than his ghost one that followed him around by phasing through the trees. I looked downward and away from him and saw Cynder and Shocker somehow keeping up with me as I ran. Suddenly I heard Tristan gasp and he suddenly halted in his tracks before taking another path. I suddenly looked before us and saw a woman dressed in a dark black cloak before us. I tried to stop, but I was much too close.

I suddenly felt a large tug on my body halt my movement and I gasped before I was lifted slightly into the air. The woman had not moved, but I saw a red glowing under her hood, just at the base of her neck. She pulled down her hood and reviled the older woman that I'd become friends with and her dark type that for once was wide awake in the dead of the night.

"Violet!" I sobbed as I hug there in the air with my egg in my arms. Another pokemon of her's came out of her pokeball and suddenly pulled my egg from my arms and I suddenly felt swallowed in a warm body and a soothing set of arms.

"Rest now Gwyn, just rest, we'll work things out in the morning when you feel better, and I'll explain everything then." I nodded to the woman while I relaxed in her arms before I felt myself drift into blackness and my knees fell out below me.

_I wasn't able to tell if she caught me or not._

**Witch's Note:**

**Yahoo! Another chapter done! And now we've had some more time to talk with the boys and an emotional Gwyn! Maybe it was a good thing she didn't tell Aaron, maybe it wasn't. What do you think? Who's the real victim?**

**So who was that guy that came with the police? Did Tristan notice that Violet was standing out in that clearing and that's why he wandered off? Is Aaron going to continue being a jerk to his best friend or will he just let it go and forgive her and beg her to forgive him too?**

**Okay now everyone! As you know, I love all your kind words and what not in Reviews and PM's so please remember to send those to me along with Questions!**

**Love you all and see you next week!**

_**Halloween Witch**_


	7. Ilex Forest

_Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage_

_Chapter 7: Ilex Forest_

**Aaron's Point of View:**

"Damn! We lost those two…"A young man sighed angrily as he watched Gwyn and that Silver Vilmos guy (who I guess was actual name was Tristan) run off into the forest and out of their reach. He then turned back to me. "Well, at least we got this guy. Let's take him back to the base." I pulled against the young man as he dragged me, but I couldn't break free of his grip, nor his vines. He was a changeling who turned his hands and arms into vines that for the most part kept its shape except his fingers that were wrapped around my body I struggled as much as I could, but I couldn't escape. His hair that I barely saw from under his hat was dark and light shades of caribbean blue. His eyes from his changing were a red in color and his teeth seemed to be a bit longer and sharper then they normally should have been. "Stop struggling, I'll get a statement from you once we hit the station."

I spat at him and it landed on his chin. He wiped it away with his other arm as he continued to drag me off. Apparently my action didn't aggravate his, nor got him to release me like I'd hoped. Ignoring his request, I kept pulling at him in hopes of escaping. My pokemon were taken from me to prevent them from causing an "unnecessary accident" as this guy apparently called it. They'd tried to escape from their pokeballs a time or two to try and help me out, but this guy, on his own, was able to detain them and put them back inside.

Once we got to the police station _on the other side of town __**away**__ from where Gwyn and Tristan left_, the police left the guy with me and simply went back to their posts while I was alone with him, but I guess that was okay by them since he was so powerful and apparently respected by them. He sat me down in a mid-tone grey interrogation room where he finally released me and had it locked from the outside. While he could probably get out at any time, I was trapped, and he was in there with me.

"Alright kid, let's start out from the beginning," the young man spoke as he released his changeling form and turned apparently back to normal. His hair turned to a dark brown and his eyes were also about the same hue of color, if not, richer. He was wearing a set of light blue jean shorts and a black shirt under a thin, red, long sleeve jacket. On his head was a familiar looking hat that was red and white with a pokeball symbol on the front. "Explain why you were hurting that girl?"

"I wasn't trying to hurt her… Mr. Vilmos." The man blinked questioningly at my answer and Vincent Vilmos sighed.

"Then explain what happened, and drop the 'Mr.', its just Vince."

"Okay then Vince…" I then explained to him in my own words what happened over the past couple days where Gwyn had lied to me twice, not only about keeping that thief's card and not turning it in, but also about not telling me that Team Rocket was after all of us. I also told him of the attack in the Slowpoke Well where Gwyn had gone off on her own to deal with them.

Vince listened all the while and took in what I said to heart. I could see some of the memories coming up from the back of his mind as he listened. They clouded over from time to time and his hands clenched and un-clenched on rare occasion, or maybe more then I actually saw, I wasn't exactly paying as much attention while I was getting all this off my chest.

When I finally had said all I needed to, Vince sighed and leaned his chin on his folded hands before him on the table. "So… that's your statement?"

"Yes sir, I never meant to hurt her, but I felt hurt by the fact that she lied to me, twice." I lowered my head to look at my hands.

He sighed and stood up before he walked over to the mirror glass that was behind him and made a couple signs with his hands before turning back to me. "Alright kid, you'll stay with me for the night."

"What?" I looked back up at him in surprise, jumping out of my seat as he put a calm hand on my shoulder.

"Relax, you and your pokemon are going to stay with me and my pokemon for the night so you can cool off some steam and think about what happened tonight. We'll talk in the morning again before we go find your friend. It's too late now in the night, it'd be a waste to try and find her here." He then threw his arm over my shoulders and led me out of the interrogation room. "So relax, freaking out doesn't seem to be helping you, nor did it tonight."

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

I finally started to feel myself coming to as I was quite warm compared to normal. I cracked open my eyes and noticed I was somewhere in the middle of the forest, it was quite thick, even the sun had a hard time popping through the trees, so it was almost as if it was twilight in here. The trees were so thick, it would be almost impossible to move anywhere in a straight line, there was also no path clearly visible to travel on in this forest.

_How could I be so far from it? The last thing I remembered was Violet catching me after Aaron flipped out over what I told Tristan…_

My eyes blinked wide awake and I sat up where I was. I was in a sleeping bag with a black cloak over the top of it to help gather as much heat as possible. I pushed them back and looked to my side to see a small fire going beside me, giving off quite a bit of the warmth I was feeling. As soon as I turned away from it, I felt the icy chill of the winter. I shivered in the sudden change in temperature.

"Rhu…" The noise caught me by surprise and I turned and gasped at the large number of powerful pokemon around me. The first I recognized as the fire dragon called charizard, but this one had a different coloration then a normal one did. It had amethyst eyes and a large body and tummy compared to its nearly skin on bone arms, legs and head. It skin was colored a grayish purple with a lighter shade of that color on its stomach. On its large wings on its back, the under sides of them were a bright maroon color and a fire blazed furiously on the end of its tail.

"I recognize you!" She was situated near my body, possibly to keep me warm while I rested last night. I raised my hand up to rub the side of her cheek and she let me. "You're Amethyst, Violet Vilmos' first and strongest pokemon-"

"Scizor sciz!" My head turned and a flash of dark red blasted past me to argue with the fire beast. It was a large bug pokemon that also had black on it in certain places like under its collar and a part of its abdomen that was almost lowered dangerously close to the ground. It defiantly was a female, that was for sure. It had three flat ended spikes on its head and bright liquid golden eyes and a pair of rapidly buzzing wings. It was the bug and steel type pokemon known as scizor.

"And you're Ruby!" I nearly gushed as I looked over the radiant, yet furious bug type that ignored me while she fought with the Amethyst. "Oh my Lugia, is this really happening?"

"Kya!" I turned my head next to the last of the two pokemon, the one that had cried out sat furthest from the fire, but near a little nest that apparently had been constructed of grass, twigs and leaves which had my egg, its blanket, Cynder, Shocker, Amber and Chalcedony all inside it. The large bird pokemon itself was a light sapphire blue color that glowed when the light hit its wings and feathers. Its down was a powder blue color and her beak and legs were all a darker blue. Its eyes were a strawberry red and river long, flowing feathers were at the base of its body that seemed to dance whenever the wind would pick up, its entire body sparkling as the ice upon its feathers caught the light of the sun or fire.

"Sapphire the rare legendary bird of ice! An articuno!" I gasped and looked to the last of them. It was a large and playful pale yellow-tan dragon pokemon that had a set of large blue eyes and two little pieces of, I guess it was an antenna, on its head compared to the scales on its body. It was nearly as big body wise as my arm-span with a set of small wings that somehow carried it in the air and its claws and toe claws were long and _sharp_. But the pokemon in general looked playful and kept bouncing around to see what was going on with everyone, much like a child would do.

"Zircon… the dragon pokemon… a dragonite…"

"I'm glad you seem to know my team." I whipped my head around and all fighting and movement seemed to stop when Violet walked into the camp. She smiled when she saw me. "It's good to see you awake Gwyn, you gave me a bit of a scare last night when I heard shouting on the edge of town and then you practically slammed yourself and your egg into the front of me. You'd best say your thanks to Chalcedony for stopping you mid step or else that egg wouldn't be in one piece."

I nodded and quickly turned to the dark type. "You have no idea how grateful I am for you doing that for me Chalcedony, I'm in your debt, thank you." The dark type pokemon muttered a bit to itself, but nodded to me before it quickly jumped up on Violet's shoulder and took its place behind her neck, but he didn't go to sleep, which surprised me.

"So you wanna tell me what exactly happened?" She asked as she took a seat by her two pokemon that still seemed to be fighting. "Ruby! Amethyst! Cool it!" Both pokemon snapped their mouths' shut and listened to the human before they both took a seat by the fire and relaxed a bit while Violet looked intently at me, waiting for me to start. Her dragon pokemon quickly slipped over to her and laid down his head for her to stroke while she waited and listened.

"Well, it started when I woke up from the hospital yesterday…" I then dived into the story of all my troubles and pain from yesterday with Aaron and our fights. I told her of how I encountered Tristan as well and what I'd told him that Aaron had then, later on, heard me telling the young man that I wanted to trust me. Violet listened intently, her mind seemed to be at ease and yet wild with thoughts and memories while she listened to every detail, and would ask me to elaborate if something was not described enough for her.

"So in total essence," she began while her dragon type flapped its wings happily as well as twitched its leg when she scratched and rubbed under his chin. "Your best friend flipped out at you because he's a bit overprotective just your safety and tends to freak out most of the time, whether it be good or bad, the freak out or the situation."

"Something along those lines." I shrugged at her. "I knew it wouldn't be a good idea to tell him since he always tends to over react to most things, it's part of his energetic nature. Like he gets excited really easily or he gets worried easily if I'm not around." I rubbed the back of my head as I sighed, confused like. "I still have no idea why."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out." She laughed as she turned to her still snuggling pokemon in her arms. "You're just a snuggle pokemon, aren't you Zircon?"

"Raoo!" His entire head practically took up the entire size of her chest as he snuggled into it and finally rested when he'd found the spot comfy enough that he wanted.

"You goof," Violet laughed at him softly before she kissed his forehead. "But you're my goof."

"Does he do that often?" I questioned her.

"Oh _yes_ he does, with all of us actually." She chuckled. "Zircon's the youngest of all my pokemon, he's only about three or four years old and has been the baby of the family. He still calls us either 'brother' or 'sissy' before our name and cuddles with whoever is available. I still remember back when I first rescued him back when he was a dratini. Oh I loved those huge, beady onyx eyes. I think he loved it too when he was little since he got to literally put himself down my shirt to gather all the warmth I had and lay his head on my breast for a pillow." She shook her head with a grin. "I mean, he still does it now, so not much has changed, and I don't mean trying to get under my clothes, just laying his head on my chest, he says it's his favorite place to sleep. But since he's such a child at heart, I couldn't believe it even if I tried to think he meant it in a sexual or perverted way."

"…wow…" There was not much else I could say while being in the middle of the close bond this woman had with all her pokemon, no matter the gender, type, size or age, she loved them all with all her heart and they meant the world to her, as she did to them. It almost looked to me that Zircon, her huge dragon pokemon that was nearly four times her size, still acted like a baby to her and I think treated her like mom more than a sister.

"Oh, hey Gwyn?" I looked back over at the woman in question. "How long have you had that egg of yours now?"

"Um…" I had to think about that for a moment. I tapped a finger to my chin. "I think something along the lines of a couple weeks, and I have no idea how long Mr. Pokѐmon had it before that before I brought it to Professor Elm's lab and then his assistant brought it to me."

"Well Hon, you better keep a better eye on that egg now, in the middle of the night while you were out, we felt the egg move for a few minutes-"

"What!" I nearly screeched and rushed over to my egg. My pokemon jumped out of my way as I felt over it and listened to it and looked for any cracks. It was still solid and had no breaches to the shell. I could still feel heat from it and could heart a faint beating from inside from its heart. I sighed as I picked it up and held it in my arms.

"As much as I love you as an egg right now little pokemon, I wish you would hatch already. You wouldn't believe how scary it is to carry you around and be afraid that you're not alive or something." I gasped suddenly after that when I felt a small amount of moving inside the egg.

"You know Hon," Violet called over to me. "Sometimes eggs tend to hatch faster when they hear the voice of their mother, or who they believe to be their mother. Depending on how much they move can determine how soon they may hatch, but like no pokemon is the same, no egg is the same. Yours just suddenly got active, and I mean active. It wouldn't surprise me if it'd be only a short time left before the egg hatched." She scratched the head of Zircon and he whined as she moved out from under him before he left the spot and cuddled next with Amethyst and Ruby, who somehow put aside their differences to care for the young pokemon. She sat down next to me and looked over the egg, listening to it as she tapped her finger on its shell gently. "Say something to it."

"But what should I say?"

"Say what's on your mind. Say what matters to you right now. Tell it about your life." I blinked a few times at her while she continued to feel about the egg for life as it had gone still.

"Okay…" I walked over across from her and felt over the smoothness of the egg's surface. "Things have been really tough lately little egg, I've been trying to help this boy out that hasn't been doing too well, even when I met him for the first time, and then I've been fighting with my best friend, it hasn't made these past couple days very fun… but I think it'll be better by the time that you hatch, or at least, I hope it does by that point."

Violet blinked in surprise as the egg suddenly shook violently in her hands and she quickly handed it over to me. It was shaking so violently that it was moving in my hands as I tried to keep it steady. Then, almost as soon as it started, the egg quieted right down and was still once again in my arms. I checked for a heartbeat and heard one, confirming it was okay.

"Wow, I've never seen an egg shake like that and then not hatch, but I still think it may hatch soon, so be very careful with it." I nodded to her and pulled the egg against my chest, closing it in the warmth of my jacket.

"So what do you plan to do now Violet? Surely you aren't staying here in the Ilex Forest?" The woman I questioned merely shrugged her shoulders and smoothed out the feathers on her ice pokemon. Shocker and Cynder came over to my side and climbed up onto my shoulders to hang onto.

"It's up to you Hon, I can get you out of this forest, or we can wait here a little while, but I got a feeling that you should try to make things up with Aaron. I pretty sure he'll be better off when you see him next."

"How do you know that?"

"He's with my brother, the police and Vince came last night when they heard Aaron's shouting and thought he was attacking you. They should have kept him over night and I think my brother can set him straight and hopefully calm him down. I'm sure Vince and him will be coming through the forest soon and try to find you or meet up with you in the next city. And I'm sure he'll be in a better state of mind too."

"Are you sure? It's only been a night… I think." I looked up to the tree line and I still couldn't tell what time of day it was.

"It's only nine in the morning Gwyn," Violet yawned as she took a seat next to her ice type and leaned into her icy feathers. "You fell asleep somewhere around eleven to midnight when you almost crashed into me. Still, as I said, it's your choice what to do, so," she raised her eye brow at me. "What do you want to do?"

"Are you sure Aaron will be calmed down by the time we reach the end of the forest?"

"Positive Hon, I have a lot of faith in my brother and my boyfriend."

I nodded slowly. "Then… I think we should go." I kept nodding to myself to keep convincing myself about my answer. "While I'm still not happy about the events that happened yesterday, I should make things up with him so we can heal up those wounds in our friendship. In a way… he was right that I should have told him, but I still think I was right for not telling him so soon or else he would've really freaked out and probably told me to hide in police witness protection or something like that."

Violet nodded herself while her signature grin settled on her face. "Well, if you're positive Hon, we can start heading over to the other end of the Ilex Forest after breakfast. I'm sure everyone's hungry, so while you slept, I gathered some berries and some leftovers I had from yesterday for us all to eat." She pulled out a large dish somehow out of her small side bag and pulled out a few baskets from near the trees. "You have got to try my mother's recipe for pasta salad, it's to die for."

I looked at her for a moment before I saw all of her pokemon crowding around her, trying to get a bite of the food that she'd brought out. _Apparently, they __**must**__ have loved that food…_

"Alright! All of you calm down!" Her pokemon backed away from her, but all sat around her waiting, happily for the food that she had. She sighed as she stood. "Guests first you guys, you can fight over what's left after Gwyn and her pokemon have had some." All of her pokemon sighed in disappointment before they sulked.

I waved off her offer nervously. "Oh don't worry about us Violet; I can just eat the berries."

"Still, I think you should have some." She pulled out another bowl and set some of the pasta salad in it before she handed it to me, making sure it was plenty full. "This way all your team can have a taste, and if you don't like it, then my pokemon will eat it. They pretty much will eat anything…" she looked over at her pokemon with an evil sort of glint in her eye and all her pokemon nervously and quickly turned away from the young woman. The only one who dared stay around Violet was Chalcedony who was still on her shoulder and being lazy once again, but his eyes were intently fixed on her bowl of food.

"Well… thank you Violet." I grabbed a set of forks I had in my bag and grabbed a clean one before I took some of the pasta that was covered in parsley, a type of salad dressing, cheese and pepperoni and put it into my mouth, grabbing one of the mini tomato berries in it and setting it with the rest of the food and eating it up. I chewed it around a few times and my two pokemon gave it a shot, grabbing a small bit on their small paws to try.

My eyes widened at the intense, yet amazing flavor of the item before me. I looked back up at Violet. "Oh my Lugia! This is amazing!"

"I know right?" Violet set the bowl down, after taking a handful of it herself, and kept her fingers attached to the end while her pokemon had all turned around and were intently looking at the giant bowl.

"Three…" she gently let go and started to back away. Chalcedony stood up on her back shoulders and leapt down onto the ground, his tail strait up and ready to leap toward the food. Amber was in a similar position as her tail swung around in the air.

"Two…" Zircon and Sapphire both had their wings partly spread, ready to take off at any moment and dive into that bowl. I chewed more of what she'd given me as I watched this spectacle.

"One…" Amethyst and Ruby seemed the most hyped up about this. I could tell the determinedness in their faces. They were the major competitors on the team, while I still believed they loved the food, I think it was more for them to challenge each other rather then get the food.

"Go!" Violet jumped back even further from the large batch of pokemon she had that all leapt at the bowl at the same time, clawing and biting their way toward the food, or in Amethyst and Ruby's case, just plain fighting.

I blinked my eyes as a dust cloud emerged from all the tumbling and my pokemon and I finished up our food before we had a few of the many berries that Violet had gathered for us. The woman herself actually took a seat next to me and grinned at the fight.

"Does this normally happen?" The woman looked over at her, her grin never faulting.

"Only every time I have or make my mother's pasta salad." She laughed as she watched them. "So I try not to make it too often, but they always get me to make more."

As she calmed herself, I giggled a bit myself at her crazy team of pokemon. I suddenly blinked though when I saw a small structure behind them. It seemed to be a little shrine to some pokemon. It was tiny and made of wood and stone, with a small cute looking carving in the opening of the doors.

"Hey Violet?" The woman in turned looked over at me with a mago berry in her mouth that she was nibbling on. "Do you know anything about that shrine over there a bit of a ways into the woods?"

"You can see that from here? Honestly girl, you got some set of perception on you." She gapped at me as she quickly chewed and swallowed her berry. "It's the only shrine in this forest, it's dedicated to a pokemon that sometimes will show up here, and its nickname that many in your region know is 'the voice of the forest'." She paused for a moment and sighed as she looked out in that direction with a soft smile. "The pokemon is known as Celebi, it has the ability to time travel and is a grass and psychic type pokemon."

"How is it that you know all this stuff about my region, even though I've lived here all my life?"

"Easy Hon, I've traveled and learned along my journey, plus, it's been three years since I came here, and you can learn a lot in that amount of time." Her pokemon quit their fighting and relaxed as the contents of the bowl was gone and they then moved onto the berries. "You were young and kept inside your town where you could only learn about things there. Don't worry though," she patted my back and rubbed it a bit. "As you continue on, you'll learn more about your region, just like I have."

"Oh, okay."

"Alright then!" She quickly got to her feat and started to pick up a few things that were scattered about. "After breakfast we're all moving, so clean up when you're done!" Her other pokemon nodded while they ate and as quickly as they had started, they finished and began cleaning as the woman had asked of them.

_I wonder how Aaron's doing…and Tristan? I hope things weren't too bad on them…_

**Tristan's Point of View:**

My pokemon and I ate quietly in the forest as we gathered our strength to tread on and hopefully make it to the end of the forest before the sun started to set. I'd traveled all night to get so close to the exit and avoid those others as they kept catching up with me. The girl, Gwyn, had shocked me the most of them how she'd taken on some of Team Rocket and managed to get them to leave their operation. To add to it, she kept my trainer card and never gave it away, except back to me. It confused me so much…

_What does this girl what from me? Is she an enemy or a friend?_

**Aaron's Point of View:**

After having breakfast with Vince and spending the night over at the station with him and my pokemon (which had been thankfully given back to me that night) we headed out short after to start heading to the other side of the Ilex Forest to try and find Gwyn. During that time on our walk, Vince had planned to talk to me. About what exactly, I could only guess at.

"Alright kid, so let's get going." We stood before the building that was the real entrance to the forest and put you on an easy path to the end, but Gwyn had ended up taking a detour along the side of it and most likely managed to end up anywhere in the forest. But Vince didn't seem to be worried.

"So what exactly did you want to talk about to me Vince?" I questioned the young man as we made out way through the forest, looking for any signs of Gwyn or her team, or even Tristan if we got lucky.

Tristan in turn, sighed and put a hand on my shoulder. "Kid… Aaron… I think you _really_, and I mean _**really**_, need to think over your actions that you took yesterday toward your friend. How you reacted when you found out, why she did this, I think she had a good reason to do it."

"What?" I turned back at him, shocked. "She had no right to hold that information from me! She also kept information from the police! She told a thief everything that she shouldn't have! He stole pokemon! He's even stolen a pokedex from her and yet she still is helping him! She fought off Team Rocket by herself-"

"Calm down!" I felt a hand clamp down on my shoulder and it prevented me from lashing out. I growled and huffed at him, but nothing made the guy budge as I tried to move. "Have you even thought about what she's been going through? What she's been thinking about that would be in the best interest of everyone?"

"What?"

"Just listen to me for a second and go along with what I'm telling you." He sighed and dragged me forward on the path as he thought about what to say. "Okay, let's try it this way, we'll start with Team Rocket." His grip loosened a bit and I moved out of it the first change I got, but the man was patient with me and watched and waited. "Team Rocket was attacking and harming a town, hurting innocent lives of human and pokemon, yes?"

"Yeah…"

"And were any police around to subdue them? Or throw them out of town?"

"No… in fact… the town was almost empty…"

"Exactly, Team Rocket had heard I was in town while they were setting up their little 'project' and decided to send us out of our way to help out on another Team Rocket case while they quietly worked. We didn't even know anything about them until we got home and some of the locals questioned where we were. If you and your friend hadn't come to town when you did, all those pokemon and that girl easily could have been taken to their base or killed." Vince sighed as he continued to walk along the path, me following after him. "If it wasn't for you brave friend for going into that, none of them would have been saved, and then there'd be all that regret over you and your friend's shoulders for doing nothing."

"But Gywn got hurt!"

"Yes, she did, I will agree to you that she should have been a bit more careful, but sometimes, you have to just let people do as they want and wish to get to where you want, and that sometimes calls for some casualties. Take my sister for example. In the beginning, Team Rocket attacked her nearly on a daily basis since the first day she was a trainer. For the longest of time, it was just her and us that battled them, and us against an entire organization, while a shocking feature, wasn't always easy. Countless times she put herself and her pokemon in harms way to protect the many others in the world that needed help. She really didn't want to involve others, but at some points, she had too when things just got to the point where she was in over her head or when she would emotionally break down and she needed the help." He gave me a strong look out of the corner of his eye. "Do you think her helping others was wrong? My sister?

"No, Violet helped out her entire region, your entire region, by defeating them and defying them…"

"And what about your friend Gwyn? Was she wrong to help others?"

"No…"

He smiled softly. "Now we're getting somewhere." A peak of sunlight burst through the trees above and shined down on us. "Now let's talk about the secrets she kept from you, why do you think she did it?"

"I don't know, but it sure pissed me off when she did," I muttered with a hiss under my breath.

He shook his head, still smiling. "I'm sure." He closed his eyes for a moment before looking up at the tree line that looked much like twilight. "I believe she didn't tell you for the right reasons, and it was a good decision on her part to do so. Ask me why."

"Why did she do that?" I snorted at him angrily; sure of myself that he couldn't change my mind.

His faced turned down as he looked woe-like at the ground. "What did you do when you got angry with her?"

"I got mad, so?"

He stopped me with a hand on my chest. "But what did you do when you got mad?"

"I yelled at her…" I blinked a few times as I turned my head away. _What was he trying to get out of me?_

"Would you like me to demonstrate _exactly_ what you did to her last night, your best friend?"

I looked up at him in surprise before I was thrusted back into a tree and both my arms were held down, I could feel him holding me down with a lot of force, but the look in his eye never changed. It was dark, it was as if he was mad, like insane mad. I fearfully looked up at him; waiting for him to strike me when he let me go and I released a breath apparently I'd been holding and dropped to the ground.

"That's what you did to your best friend. Due to your energetic and over reactive nature, you almost hit your best friend out of pure rage." Vince shook his head. "I think Gwyn was right in not telling you, based on your actions from last night. But what do you think?"

"Th-that's … that's how I treated her?" I could hardly hear the words as they came out of my mouth and my body shook in fear from his previous attack.

"Yes, I saw the same fear in her face when you had a hold of her last night, I damn well hope that girl's alright, and you better as well for your own sake."

"Oh my Ho-oh… how could I do that?" Tears welded in my eyes as my body shook and rocked itself on the ground; I couldn't control what I was doing. _Is that what Vince was referring too?_

"Yeah, I'm sorry to say it kid, but yeah, you did, though I think it might not have been as extreme as I was to you, but you, being the best friend, left a lasting mark."

"I'm an idiot!" I shoved my hand into my hair, shoving off my favorite hat and sobbing on the ground, overwhelming emotions poured from my heart to every inch of my body.

"You may have been, but Gwyn wouldn't want you to beat yourself up over this." I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up at Vince as he pulled me to my feet. "Now we have one last thing to go over, and we have just enough walking time to do so."

"What's that?" I managed to whip the tears from my eyes and watch him again as we got going again.

"That, kid, would be the subject of her and that boy you seem to hate so much." Vince looked over at me. "Who is he exactly? I might know him thought the police data base."

"Uh… we honestly don't know who he is, but I think Gwyn does to a certain degree. She's been talking apparently with some woman named Violet, who I think is your sister-"

"My sister?" Vince turned around wildly toward me and halted us in our tracks. "She's seen my sister?" He had a hold of my shoulders while he shook me for answers.

"I'm not sure, but I think so, you'd have to ask her to find out." I pushed away his hands. "Anyway, where exactly were we?"

"Oh, uh… sorry about that," Vince pulled away and rubbed the back of his head. "Uh… oh! We were talking about that young boy that Gwyn's been helping out and keeping information from the police on, while I really don't blame her for doing so…"

"Why is that?"

He sighed. "Somehow, Team Rocket's been able to hack our system a time or two and I believe we have a spy or two in our ranks."

"Maybe she picked up on that after that guy stole from the lab and her!" I exclaimed as we got back to walking. "She was making a few faces as she explained what happened to the police, maybe she figured it out then."

"We'll have to see who was there then and keep an eye on that person." Vince muttered as a finger of his tapped his chin. "So now talk to me about this kid. He got a name?"

"Uh, yeah, he's got a first name and a fake name. His fake name that was written on his card was 'Silver Vilmos', but the real name of his is Tristan." Vince's eyes went wide and he turned to me.

"Tristan?" He questioned me. "Tristan Agustino?"

"Wait! That kid is Tristan Agustino? The abused son of Team Rocket?" My eyes nearly bulged out of my head. _That was the Tristan kid we've been seeing? No wonder he's the way he is if that's really him!_

"I'm fairly positive it's him if my sister's involved herself as much as you've said, especially if she's told Gwyn about him." Aaron sighed. "It's all my fault that the kid's still out there… if I hadn't mentioned the orphanage, he probably wouldn't have run away…"

"You didn't know that," I told him. "You were no older then me when you said that, how could you have known?"

He snorted a laugh. "You know kid; you can be pretty smart when you want to be." He shook his head. "Anyway, I think now you see what went wrong last night," he paused as he gazed ahead to the forest ending where a large patch of a sunset could be seen. "What do you plan to do?"

"Apologize first of all to her and pray to Lugia that she'll forgive me." I sighed. "And then I need to learn how to control my emotions better, if I hadn't been so much of an over-dramatic idiot, this never would've happened."

"Maybe, but all things happen for a reason Aaron, and I think this needed to happen." Vince pointed up ahead. "And I think I see your friend now. Looks like she's been waiting on us, we'd better not do that in the future, it's not polite to keep a lady waiting." He rubbed the back of his head and grimaced. "I learned that the hard way from my sister…"

I looked up ahead of us and watched as a large white bolder came into sight at the end of the forest. In the setting sunlight sat Gwyn at the top of it, both her pokemon resting in her lap and her egg in her arms. She was already glancing this way and looked tense, like she thought another fight would come from me.

I shook my head and ran toward her, shaking my head and tears flowing all the way.

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

Violet led me all the way to the end of the forest to where a large pure white bolder was and she used her changeling abilities to set me atop of it. She got me situated where just incase under the slightest change that Aaron was still mad at me, he couldn't hurt me from the high climb atop the bolder.

"Now I'll keep in touch with you Hon, you better tell me when things clear up with you and your best friend." She called out her dragon pokemon to give him a stretch of his wings for once instead of being inside his pokeball. "I should be up on route thirty-six for the next day or so if you need me at all, and if you don't see me right off the bat, you know how to reach me."

"Thanks Violet, for everything." The woman nodded and gave me a quick hug before she grabbed onto her dragon pokemon and flew away from the bolder.

"Later Hon!" She reduced her abilities and became a normal human once more before Zircon cried out and flew off and high up into the sky, where she was only a tiny black dot to my eye.

I sighed as I sat there by myself. Shocker and Cynder quietly sat themselves in my lap and curled up while I held onto my egg and sighed as I looked off toward the forest. A beautiful sunset was setting over as the bright ball of light sunk below toward the tops of the trees and turned to a vibrant, darkish orangey red color. It was nice and warm on my jacket and skin, but the night's cooling air was starting to settle in. _I hope I don't have to wait for Aaron after dark. It's getting cold out here._

I huddled closer around my egg with the blanket to keep it and myself warm. The wind was starting to gust up, it was a sure sign that winter would soon be here, and that would _not_ be pretty. Its not that I don't like the snow season, it's always beautiful, but it's extremely cold, we always seem to get mountains worth of snow and below freezing temperatures. I'll need to get myself a set of winter gear soon enough while I travel, or at least a warmer jacket to put over this one…

I suddenly heard movement from down the trail, my head whipped to see two figures emerging from the same forest I'd just emerged from a short while ago. Those figures soon turned out to be males and just as soon as I picked up on that, I noticed that it was Aaron with what I guessed was Violet's brother Vince, a tall young man that was much taller then she was, dark brown hair and his normal get up that he wore all year round, being a changeling prevented you from having to worry about temperature too much useless you were submerged in extreme heat or cold for long periods of time.

I sat nervously on the bolder as I watched them approach, Aaron especially. Violet may have assured me that he would be fine, but I was still hesitant. I suddenly saw that Aaron saw me and he bolted forward with what I saw to be tears in his eyes. He had to be over it then, he just had to!

Against my probably better judgment, I carefully slid down off the side of the large bolder and waited there for him. I handed my egg to Cynder and Shocker just incase, but I was surprised when he shouted my name in pure fear and worry and captured me in a monstrous hug.

"Gwyn!" He sobbed into my hair and shoulder. "I'm so so so so so so _so_ sorry!" He pulled back his face to show me his broken figure. "I don't know if you can ever forgive me for not believing in you, agreeing with you, fighting with you, nearly _attacking_ you-"

"Aaron, stop." He continued to breathe heavily and hiccup, but he silenced himself. I shook my head. "I'm at fault too, I should have told you about Tristan, Violet and Team Rocket."

"But you didn't with good reason!"

"Aaron…" I sighed before and idea hit me. "Wait, how about this? We both say we're sorry and keep no more secrets from each other, and try to watch our emotions and tempers in the future."

He wiped his face on his sleeve and nodded. "I can live with that." He crushed me into another hug and I gasped for breath.

"If I can interrupt," I turned my head to see the young man next to us that forced Aaron to loosen his grip on me. "Its getting a bit chilly and you two will both come down with a cold if you don't get to the city. I'll lead you kids over there."

He began to walk ahead and Aaron grabbed my hand to pull me with him. My pokemon thankfully brought my egg and it was an easy walk until Cynder and Shocker cried out behind me. I turned and pulled my arm from Aaron's to see that my egg was shaking madly on the ground.

"My egg's hatching!"

**Witch's Note:**

**Oh boy, if that wasn't an emotional chapter, then I don't know what is! It was a lot of fun to write this though, and now we have another old character come back, just like Violet! We now have Vince! Isn't it grand? And apparently he's grown up a bit over the past three years!**

**But what happens next? Gwyn's egg is going to hatch and I have yet to tell you what happens! Oh well, I guess you guy'll just have to wait on the edges of your seats to find out next time when I update again! See you next week with another chapter and TWO new pokemon for Gwyn! Yeah, you heard me! TWO! And please don't forget to send me your wonderful Questions and Reviews or PMs! I love to hear what you have to say!**

**Love you all and see you next week!**

_**Halloween Witch**_


	8. Lots of Normal Types

_Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage_

_Chapter 8: Lots of Normal Types_

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

The three of us had taken off down the streets with my shaking egg in my hands. I could feel it shaking to the point where the shell would start to give way soon if we didn't hurry. I wanted it to be safe and in the warmth of a building before it hatched, but if we didn't make it to the pokemon center soon, that wouldn't happen, and who knows what that could do to my little baby pokemon?

"Alright, this is taking too long!" Vince snapped and pulled out a pokeball and threw it into the air before a large tan bird that had fire all over the edges of its wings, the back of its head and the fire was it tail appear. "Moltres! Take this girl and get her to a pokemon center as fast as you can! Just a few minutes to the north! We have a baby pokemon that's about to hatch from its egg that out here in the elements! We'll catch up soon!"

The pokemon nodded and screeched before I settled on the ground and allowed me to climb on with my two pokemon. Once we were all on, the pokemon flapped its wings and leapt into the air before it raced off toward the city that was still a mile or so away from us. This legendary bird of fire was fast, that was for sure, and it was quite convenient since we needed to get there fast, the only exception that I hated about this was how fast we were moving above everything below, the season of fall was fast ending and turning over to winter, and the icy chill of the north wasn't exactly comforting as we flew, nor did it set my nerves to rest as my baby pokemon had yet to hatch. I nestled my body down against the bird's back with the egg between the two of us and Cynder and Shocker on either of my sides, preventing the egg from sliding out and away.

"Please hang on little egg, hang on!" I looked to the bird's head. "Please Moltres! Faster!"

The bird screeched out and pulled her wings in, diving us toward the city. I screamed as we dropped until I felt a sudden thud and out the wings spared again and there was a few moments where it used its wings to glide and propel itself forward before diving again. I couldn't help my screams every time it suddenly fell, but I kept apologizing to the legendary pokemon every time.

But it did get me to the city, exactly where I needed to be.

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

Once I landed in front of the pokemon center, I lept off the back of the bird's back and took off into the center. I saw the many people inside the building gasp as I lept inside with my pokemon with my egg still wrapped thoroughly in my arms. The Nurse Joy that ran the center ran up to me with her partner, a chancey, and she took a single look of the situation before she saw my almost jumping egg in my arms.

"Come with me!" I breathed heavily from the adrenaline of my flight and run as I rushed after the nurse who led me to the back of her pokemon center where she had me set down my egg on a table with the blanket around it. The egg suddenly started to glow as it shook even wilder then before and I gasped in amazement, while I caught my breath, as I watched the egg suddenly be enveloped in a bright white light.

My egg suddenly stopped shaking and the egg began to crack at the top of it, then on two spots on the top of the shell, the same amount on the bottom below them. From those few tiny cracks came tiny bright, pale tan appendages of tiny feet and little stubs for arms or hands. Out of the top of the egg where the biggest crack was, the shell cracked and disintegrated before a small head poked out barely from inside the shell, just enough to see the three smoothed out spikes on its head, its tiny, yet beady like, onyx black eyes and a tiny mouth. The light faded and the egg had changed color, the green spots on it were gone and substituted for hollowed out in color, red and blue triangles.

The tiny little pokemon blinked a few times before its eyes landed on me. It stared at me for a moment before it smiled and held its arms out for me. "Toge toge! Geeeee!"

"Oh you are such a little cutie!" I picked up the little pokemon in my arms and held it gently there while it continued to cry out happily in my arms. Shocker and Cynder quickly jumped up onto the table to meet their new sibling and I turned for them to meet it. It looked up to me in question. "There's no need to be afraid little one, I'm your Momma Gwyn and this is your big sister Cynder," Cynder came over and nuzzled its face. "And your big brother Shocker." Shocker came over and gently patted the baby pokemon's head.

It took the pokemon a moment or two to get acquainted with its older siblings in this amazing new world it was just hatched into, but other then that, it warmed up to all of us pretty quick. Nurse Joy came over to me while I held my baby pokemon in my arms and it played with its siblings.

"Why that's an adorable little pokemon you have there Gwyn, wonderful job getting it here before it hatched." Nurse Joy smiled at the little baby pokemon in my arms. My baby pokemon suddenly took interest in a clock that was hanging on the wall and watched it tick while I looked at the nurse.

"Thanks, but how did you know my name?" I questioned her. "I don't think I told you it."

"You didn't, but I knew through the news." The nurse turned and pulled out an article in a newspaper that was dated for almost a week ago. "You got famous overnight from taking on Team Rocket in Azalea Town. It was also described in the paper that while you were in the hospital, you had two pokemon on you and an egg that a friend was watching for you while you faced them." She placed it before me so I could look; on the front page was a picture of me while I was being rolled into the hospital with my pokemon on the table with me.

"That is an awful picture…" I muttered. _What a great way for people to know me by, a picture of me on a rolling table heading into the hospital…_

I turned my eyes back to my baby pokemon who still had its eyes fixed on the clock. Its eyes waved back and forth as the ticking did. Its sudden curiosity in the clock got me to laugh lightly under my breath as I watched it, getting my mind off of the picture and article.

"Tick, tock, tick, tock," my little pokemon looked up at me. I could only giggle at its face. "Do I sound like the clock Ticky?"

"Ticky?" the nurse questioned me.

"Well," I turned to her. "My pokemon all have nicknames and for a little cutie like this little one here, I thought that since it likes the sound of a clock, I'd call it Ticky." I looked down at my baby pokemon. "Do you like that name?"

"Toge toge!" It cried out with a smile. "Togeeee!"

"Ticky it is then! Oh!" I pulled out my pokedex and pointed it at the little baby pokemon. "I'm actually curious as to what kind of pokemon you are. Mr. Pokѐmon seems to think that you're from a different region, so if you are, then my pokedex shouldn't pick up on what you are, but if you're from this region or Kanto, I should be able to." Ticky looked at my crystal blue device in hand and watched as it blinked its lights on and off.

_Togepi, the spiked ball pokemon. Its shell seems to be filled with joy. It is said that it will share good luck when treated kindly. It is said that happiness will come to those that can make a sleeping togepi stand up. There are no known togepi nests in the region._

"So you are actually from this region… and female… I'm not sure exactly how the professor will respond to that." I suddenly heard a yawn in my arms and looked down at my little baby pokemon, she was already prepared for sleep. I could help but chuckle at her. "You've only been awake for a few minutes and it's already bedtime? Fair-" a yawn escaped my mouth, "enough. I'm pretty tired too after all that's taken place today."

"I'll prepare a room for you then." Nurse Joy said and motioned me to follow her. "This way, and I'll prepare things for those boys when they get here too." I was about to question her when she stopped me. "I know that you have a best friend your traveling with and that's Vincent Vilmos' moltres out there that you came in on, he's been here a time or two before, so I know him. Relax."

I sighed and followed after her, my two older pokemon trailing at my feet_. I'm trying! But that's not exactly easy when you seem to know everything about me!_

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

I yawned when the morning finally came and the sun was setting up high in the sky. I gently sat up as to be careful not to crush or harm any of my pokemon who slept in the bed with me. I opened my eyes and looked down at them, still in the same spot that we all fell asleep in last night. Shocker and Cynder had both been curled into my sides while Ticky was near my shoulder and head.

I was surprised to see that out of all my pokemon, Ticky was the only one awake. She was looking at a figure that was standing out there on a perch before the window, it looked like it had no where to leap to. "Toge toge?" It got up to its little feet and walked over toward the windowsill. "Ge?"

"Hang on little one; I don't want you falling for four stories on your second day of life!" I quickly took hold of my baby pokemon and placed her with her still arising siblings from slumber. "I'll check it out sweetie; you stay with your brother and sister." She only tilted her head to the side in confusion. I sighed, with her safely out of the way; I hurried over to the window and opened it to help the pokemon that was out on the ledge. As soon as the window was open, it leapt inside and hit the bed before it could stop itself, and rolled onto the floor. I watched the pokemon with wide eyes along with my two older pokemon who could only look at it as well; the only exception to this was Ticky who, as a young not even a twenty-four hour old pokemon yet, laughed at its fall.

The pokemon didn't seem to mind though, even as Cynder hushed her little sister's laughter, but Shocker began to snicker behind his paw. The pokemon before us was a small one, and most of its body seemed to be made of a bushy brown fur that was wrapped around its entire body, with the exception of an even bushier collar of tan fur around its neck and a tip of the same color on its very bushy tail. It had large black eyes and tall ears that stuck strait up while it looked at us until its gaze focused on me, then on dipped to the side in confusion as it also angled its head while our eyes locked.

"Ee?" it questioned me.

I blinked and pulled out my pokedex from the night stand to see exactly what this pokemon was. _Eevee, the evolution pokemon. Its irregularly configured DNA is affected by its surroundings. It evolves if its environment changes. There are no known eevee nests in the region._

"An eevee?" I questioned myself as I looked over its information. "Another normal type… and it's female too… but why is she here?" I got down on the ground before it. "How did you get up on my windowsill?"

Before it could give me an answer, a sudden knocking could be heard from my door. I turned to face it and looked away from the normal type that then jumped up off the floor and went over to my pokemon. "Just a minute!" I shouted out and hurried over there while in less then a second all my pokemon but Cynder were playing on the bed, while she watched them with an older sister or motherly eye. I shook my head back at her just as I opened the door and the Nurse Joy of this center appeared along with a man behind her.

"Good morning Gwyn, may I and my friend step in for a moment?" I blinked a time or two before I yawned.

"I guess so, excuses me if I look a bit indecent though, but I just woke up about a few minutes ago." I didn't look too bad, I was wearing a thing strapped shirt and a set or shorts, but that was about it.

"Oh my…" the nurse chuckled. "Why don't you go get cleaned up and dressed then and we'll just wait downstairs for you? I didn't think that you'd still be in bed at this hour, but times are getting later, and so is the sunrise, my apologies."

"No, it's not your fault; I guess I was just really tired last night. Ticky was actually the first one up."

"Not surprising with a new born." She turned to leave with the man behind her. "Oh, and please bring down that eevee when you come down too."

"Okay!" I closed the door and hurried off toward the bathroom to take a quick shower and get into my day clothes. Cynder would watch the others without having me to ask her while I was away, and she would stop them if they got too rough, especially around Ticky.

The water felt warm and inviting on my skin as I let it roll in millions of streams down my now nude body. I quickly cleaned away the dirt and sweat of the night and yesterday in one fellow swoop while warming up my body as much as I could, this would be the warmest I would feel all day being under this nearly boiling water that I enjoyed. _I really don't know why I stay here if I hate the cold so much, when I get older, I should leave to an island to the far south or something where it's always warm._ I shook my head and sighed as I had to get out, the cold air instantly making me shiver as I stepped out of my shoulder.

"Darn its cold in Johto, remind me to ask Mom why we live here again…" I muttered to myself as I dried off the remaining warm water on my body and began to dress for the day. Once all my clothes were in place, I'd done all my essentials and I was nearly about to sweat in the bathroom from all the heat, I deemed myself ready to face the chilly day in the city.

I sighed as I opened the bathroom and suddenly felt how much colder it was in that room. My pokemon and the eevee all looked over at me once I'd come out. I grabbed my coat that I'd left out this morning on my bed and put it on over my shoulders, sighing when the mareep wool instantly took in my body heat and reflected it back to me. I threw my bag strap onto my shoulder and picked up Ticky into my arms before I walked toward the door, my other pokemon and the eevee following after me. I closed the door behind me and left the bed as it was like I always did for the cleaning people to take care of and headed down for breakfast.

Once I got to the lower section of the Goldenrod pokemon center, I noticed now considerably larger its variety was in food at the buffet that people were digging into and it was also much more spacious, and even held areas for larger parties, which apparently everyone waiting on me was waiting at in the back. Nurse Joy sat at the table with three males next to her, two of them I recognized as Aaron and Vince who were both gorging in large amounts of food while people watched in amazement and with their eyebrows raised. The last of them seemed to be an older young man then Vince, probably around the age of mid or late twenties. He was wearing a button up blue shirt, tan dress pants and black dress shoes. As I approached, I saw his shaggy, short brown hair and soft brown eyes.  
"Hey Gwyn! What took you so long?" I rolled my eyes as I looked over at Aaron and took a seat next to him.  
"Like your one to talk, what time did you even get here last night?" The boy shrugged and stuffed his mouth with some more food, swallowing it with a large gulp of milk.  
"About eleven to midnight, was too tied to really check how late it was when we got here."  
"I gathered that. After Ticky hatched we all just went to bed."  
"Ticky?" I set the little bundle that was my baby pokemon on the table for Aaron to see.

He looked at the little pokemon in question and it did the same back.  
"Toge?" Ticky questioned as she looked at him.  
"You named it 'Ticky'?" Aaron questioned me in concern.  
"Yeah, what about it?"

"It's a weird name Gwyn." Aaron shook his head and I saw the tears weld up on the edges of Ticky's eyes. She suddenly burst out into a fit of cries and Aaron jumped backward as her cries got louder and people began to look over at our table with angry and surprised looks.  
"How could you do that Aaron?" I screeched at him and stood up from my seat, taking Ticky into my arms while she cried, her tears staining my shirt. Both Cynder and Shocker jumped up to the table to defend their little sister, and to my surprise, the eevee did as well, a not so pleased look on her face. "You heartless jerk! She's not even twenty-four hours old yet! I gave her that name because of how much she loved to watch a clock! And it's a cute name for a baby pokemon!"  
"Gwyn! I'm so-" he was cut off by my hand whipping around to hit the side of his face, even a bit of claw marks could be seen from the tips of my long nails that I was now thankful I hadn't cut yet. He held it in pain as some more of my own tears fell.  
"Don't you dare talk to me or my pokemon! Especially not like that!" One of my tears fell onto Ticky's head. "You have no idea how much I despise you right no-"  
"GEE!" My attention was suddenly averted to the shaking pokemon in my arms while I watched as its tiny hands glowed and from above Aaron, tiny rocks fell from above and fell down on top of him. He hissed as each one of them hit him head on and Ticky and I angrily let him have it.  
"Gwyn… maybe you should calm down a bit…" Nurse Joy tried to calm me down and I agreed with her internally that I should probably stop before I really hurt him, but one more just wouldn't hurt.  
"Just one more and I'll feel better, right Ticky?"  
My freshly hatched pokemon nodded and it cried out before a larger rock came hurling toward Aaron, almost the size of a brick or more. He cried out in pain and looked at us angrily, but before he could say another word, Vince grabbed his ear and pulled on it.  
"Enough, both of you." He glared over at me and my anger was suddenly gone and replaced with a tingle of fear as I watched his eyes turn a deep red. _He'd become a changeling…_ "I don't want to hear another word out of either of you, nor do I want you two fighting in here, there are other people trying to eat and enjoy their morning and your ruining it." He sighed after that. "And I just spent all yesterday trying to patch you two up too…"  
A sudden phone rang and Vince sighed as he grabbed his pokegear. "Yes…" he sighed to the person on the other end of the line in an annoyed manner. "I'm a bit busy here Alex…"  
He released Aaron from his grip and the boy in turn huffed and turned away from him, sourly looking down at the ground. Nurse Joy sighed and walked off, muttering something about bringing me and my pokemon some food.  
I sighed. _And this just has to happen… of course it does, Aaron and I just can't get along at times…_ I shook my head and petted the backs of my pokemon. "Alright you guys, off the table, it's alright now." My pokemon all grumbled, but obeyed none the less. They came down to my lap as that was as far as they'd leave until they felt like it would be safer. The eevee however didn't get off the table, she merely turned around back toward me and stuck up her tail and her nose into the air before she walked over to me and jumped onto my shoulder, settling there and glaring at my supposed "best friend".  
"So I see you found a new friend Eevee, I'm glad to see that." I blinked my eyes and turned my head to look at the young man that sat next to us. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you at all Gwyn, I was concerned however when I saw Eevee on your windowsill this morning."  
"Are you her trainer or owner?"  
"Neither, she just stays with my family and I." He held out one of his hand for me to shake. "I'm Bill Hugh by the way; I'm old friends with Vince and his family, especially with his sister Violet back in the day."  
I took hold of his hand. "I'm Gwyn Jalen, and this is my team of Cynder my quilava, Shocker my flaaffy and Ticky my togepi." All of my pokemon gave him a nod other then Ticky, who was still a bit upset, and I'm sure hungry for her first meal. We would have fed her last night, but she slept and never made a notion that she was hungry, so we let it be.  
"Quite a team you have there, though may I ask you a strange question?"  
"Uh… sure?"

"Would you like another member, as in, would you like to take Eevee with you?"  
I blinked in surprise and even the eevee on my shoulder gasped as she looked at me with hopeful eyes. "Really?"

"Well… yes." Bill rubbed the back of his head. "Eevee was dropped off at our home here in Goldenrod a while back and we've been looking after her until someone was willing to take her on a journey or keep her permanently. Both my sister and mother will be sad to see her go, but I don't see why she shouldn't. I mean, she seems to really like you and I just want her to have a good family to be with." He chuckled behind his hand. "She also loves to battle and tends to pick up a fight here and there with some of the street pokemon or wild pokemon in the area."  
I smiled and nodded. "I don't mind at all, but it's her choice." I looked over at the excited eevee on my shoulder. "So what do you say Eevee? Wanna join my team?"  
"Ee!" She cuddled into the side of my face and neck excitedly. I had to put a hand on her back to slow her down and not knock me over.  
"Alright! Calm down!" She did and stepped down onto my lap with Shocker and Cynder who congratulated their newest sister on becoming apart of our team. "Now all we need is a nickname for you, and once breakfast is over, I'll capture you and Ticky into a pokeball so no one else can and take you from me."  
"I'm curious to ask how you name your pokemon Gwyn, when I asked Violet the same question a few years ago, she replied to me how much she had loved gem stones, and she named her pokemon based off of that." Bill questioned me while placing his hands below his chin and he leaned on them while he watched the interaction of all my pokemon of them watching me and waiting on a chosen name.  
"Well… I like to name my pokemon after a certain feature about them, or something that they like, it also gives them a very different name so that way it stands out among others. I named Cynder after the fact that she was a fire type and liked to burn things when she was still a cyndaquil, Shocker I named after the fact that he was an electric type and that he liked to shock pokemon and people, and he still does if he gets the chance." My electric pokemon snorted at that while he patted little Ticky's head. "Ticky I named after the fact that she loved the ticking sound of a clock, and as for this eevee…" Her deep black eyes bore into mine while she waited on my answer. "Sunrise."

"Come again?" Bill questioned.  
"Sunrise, it's the time of day when we first met and she's such a perky and happy personality that I feel that it fits." My eevee's eyes glinted when she heard the name and she grinned before she lept back up at my face and started to lick it. "Sunrise! Cut it out! I'm glad you like the name!"  
"Another stupid name…" The mood was killed when Aaron once again opened his mouth and said something he shouldn't have. All my pokemon glared at him and before anyone could react, Cynder, Shocker and Sunrise all grabbed a part of him and threw him off his chair before dragging him outside of the dining room, him shouting and cursing the entire way before I saw sparks, flames and some sort of dark energy fly. _That must have been one of Sunrise's moves; I wouldn't put it past her to have one or two._

"What just happened?" Nurse Joy had come back with some milk in a bottle along with some small pits of very soft food for my baby pokemon to eat while I got four plates of pancakes and sausage for my team and I.  
I simply took the warm bottle of milk from and started to feed it to Ticky, who began sucking on it quickly. "My pokemon got angry at Aaron again."  
She set down our plates and bent her legs to be more at my eye level and gently pet Ticky's head. "And may I ask what he did this time?"  
"Said Sunrise's, my new eevee that agreed to come with my on my journey, name was stupid." The nurse only sighed as she took another seat by Bill and we watched from a distance as my pokemon fried and chewed out his butt before hurrying back over to eat.  
Aaron walked in not a moment later with bite marks and charcoal all over his body, his hair was sticking up on end and his clothes were partially shredded.  
"I hate you," he spat out at me.  
I didn't even look back at him. "Then maybe you should have thought about what you were doing _before_ you angered my pokemon."

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

No more then a short while later, it was needless to say that I left the pokemon center. Aaron had irritated me, once again, beyond my limits, especially when he brought my pokemon's names into it. He can be such a jerk at times…

Anyway, while Aaron was left behind to lick his wounds, I decided to travel to the gym in town and see if we could earn our third badge. It would be Sunrise's first battle with me as well as Ticky seeing how a battled looked and worked for the first time in her life. All of my pokemon were excited to battle, especially Sunrise, she was extremely excited to face off against "the powerful cow pokemon" as she called one of Whitney Emil's pokemon. Whitney's gym was nearly at the most northern end of town, practically right next to the exit that led to route thirty-five, right next to an apparent flower shop that her family and friends run next door.

Since we left I also captured Sunrise and Ticky into their new pokeballs that I'd received from Kirk. I used the friend ball that he gave me, a normally colored pokeball other then the fact that the top half of it was green and it had four tiny red smooth edge rectangles around the opening part of the pokeball, to capture Sunrise in to hopefully make her more friendly to others, though it seemed to only work on my team and family and myself, not others so much. She normally stuck her noise up to them. I caught Ticky in a love ball, which was designed for pokemon of the opposite gender when trying to capture in the wild, but it didn't seem to matter at all when I caught her, plus, Ticky loved the way the ball looked. It was a bright pink with an almost glowing, hollowed out heart shape that was colored a pinkish red while it sat over a pink top half of the pokeball.

I walked up to the gym door and pushed it open to reveal inside a large and empty gym battlefield where the only thing that stood out as a decoration of sorts were plants that hung before the windows or sat before them, catching the rays of the morning sun. I guess she wouldn't need much of a specific battlefield if her special pokemon type is normal.

"Hello?" My voice rang out into the gym as I called out for anyone who possibly could be there. "Hello?"

"Hello!" I turned my head off to the other side of the field as a young woman, maybe a few years older then myself, strolled in with a large grin on her face. Her hair was short and curled along the side of her face and was a dark magenta with a couple bright yellow clips holding it back. She had on a shirt that was all white except for all the edges of it, including where it buttoned up in the center of her chest. She had on a set of indigo shorts and knee high socks that were striped electric blue and black with a set of white and red sneakers over them. Her dark golden eyes stood out against her hair and skin as she walked to her spot on the battlefield. "You must be my newest challenger! Welcome to the Goldenrod city gym! I'm the gym leader here! Whitney! Oh I'm so excited to face someone!"

"You're not the only one…" I sighed and she gave me a look in question.

"Wait a second, I recognize that look!" She put her hands on her hips and pouted a bit. "Boy problems? Friend problems? A combination of the two?"

"A best friend that's a boy who really made me and my pokemon all mad this morning, all over the names I gave my two newest members to my team and family." I snorted. "I still can't believe he got mad over the names 'Ticky' and 'Sunrise'…"

"But those are _adorable_ names!" Whitney gasped at me. "If that boy comes around here, I'll give him a piece of my mind for you girl!"

I smiled softly at her. "Thanks, I appreciate that. But can you help me get my mind off it with a battle?" She nodded quickly to me as I got ready for battle. "My name's Gwyn Jalen by the way, I don't know if Bugsy told you about me or not, but I was in an even uglier mood when I faced him."

"Oh, he told me about you, you poor thing! Boys just don't realize how fragile a girl's heart is!" She shook her head. "Anyway, let's have an awesome battle and get our minds off things we don't want to think about!"

"Works for me!" I looked down to my team. "Who wants to go first?"

"Flaa!" Shocker jumped out in front of the others before we could confirm it. I shook my head at him with a grin and chuckle. _He was always a gutsy and eager pokemon…_

"Alright Shocker, just be careful out there!" My pokemon didn't quite hear that last part, only that he was allowed to fight.

"Toge!" Ticky cheered him on and I blinked as she waved around her hands and they suddenly started to glow.

"Ah ah!" Ticky looked up at me in confusion and its hands halted. I placed my fingers over them to put them down. "You can't help big brother Shocker right now Ticky, this is a battle between me and him, and the gym leader and her pokemon. I promise you'll get a chance to do this in the future, but right now, your too young and inexperienced, just watch and learn, okay?" Ticky I think still didn't quite understand what I was asking of her, but she stopped her almost attack of metronome and stayed in my arms and turned her eyes back to the battle that was about to start before us.

"I hope your ready Gwyn! Here I come!" Whitney grinned over at me on the other side of the field. "Go Clefariy!" Out from her pokeball came a very bright pink pokemon that was small in size, not much larger then Shocker was right now, maybe even a tad shorter by an inch or two. Its was a bit more rounded of a pokemon and had thick arms and legs and a big head with brown tipped large ears that were pointed. A large swirl of its fur was curled on the top of its head and it almost looked like there were wings on its back. It also had a tail that curled behind it and was pressed up against its body, puffy and bright pink like all the rest of it.

"Clafairy…" I pulled out my pokedex to see what we were dealing with here.

_Clafairy, the fairy pokemon and the evolved form of cleffa. The moonlight that it stores in its wings on its back apparently gives it the ability to float in midair. Its adorable behavior and cry make it highly popular. However, it is rarely found in this region and its only known whereabouts are the Safari Zone in Cianwood._

_Interesting… it's a normal type as well. Wow; my day has really been filled with just nothing but normal types, hasn't it? And now I'm facing a normal type gym leader!_

"Hello? Gwyn! Can we get started? First move to the challenger!" Whitney called out from her side of the field.

"Sorry! I got a little distracted!" I looked out to my electric pokemon. "Let's go Shocker! Start out with shock wave!" It was Shocker's newest attack he'd learned apparently in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep and decided to train instead. It was also like a disc of electricity that flew off of his arms he swung, throwing the electric attack at the pokemon. The clafairy was slow to react and cried as the attack hit it head on and drew itself into the blast. When the attack vanished, it was clearly apparent that the pokemon was now paralyzed and hurt; this must have been a recently caught or young poekmon if it was going to go down so easily.

"Clafairy!" Whitney called out worriedly. "Hang on! Use metronome!" Her pokemon struggled to do so, but it was able to complete the attack, rocking its hands back and forth before they glowed and suddenly I saw a glittering and glowing appear around the pokemon. I watched as the electricity damage that Shocker had inflicted on it was quickly disappearing and its wounds were healing.

"Oh no! Its metronome turned into recover!" I quickly turned to my pokemon. "Shocker, we have to take it out now! Shock wave again and then iron tail!"

My pokemon complied with a cry before it threw a large chunk of electricity at the clafairy, which cried out as it was hit and stopped itself from healing completely and also taking damage. Shocker then rushed in through the cloud of dust that had risen from the attack and his tail suddenly turned metallic in color before he jumped and I lost a visual on him. I heard a cry from the other side of the field from both Whitney and her pokemon and I watched as the dust slowly began to settle at the middle of the field so I could barely make out the outline of my pokemon's tail. I could see then that Shocker was standing over the body of the fainted clafairy, which Whitney was freaking out over.

I rubbed the back of my hand as the young woman rushed toward her fallen pokemon. "Sorry, did we get over carried away?"

I watched as Whitney took her pokemon in her arms and walked back to her box. "Oh no, I'm just very attached to my pokemon, I always tend to rush out to them if they've been defeated, its just part of my caring nature," Whitney said. She praised to her pokemon before she returned it and pulled out another pokeball. "Let's go Girafarig!"

From the pokeball came a pokemon that was about the same size as Aaron's bayleef, but was very different in appearance compared to it. It had two little antennas on its head that were white, as well as the top part of its head from the top of its skull to the back of its bright pink nose and above its eyes. It was half yellow and half brown with spots of the opposite color on that same side. It had pink spikes on its back and hooves for feet, looking a bit like a ponyta in that nature. It also had a tail that almost seemed to have a grinning face on it with yellow eyes and pearly white teeth that grinned when it looked around at us.

"Whoa…" I pulled out my pokedex for this new pokemon too. _Girafarig, the long neck pokemon. Its tail has a small brain of its own. Beware! If you get too close, it may react to your scent by biting. It can instinctively fight even while facing backward. Girafarig nests are somewhat seen in the region on route forty-three, forty-eight and within the Safari Zone._

"Wow, you have some pretty rare normal types." I commented as I looked over the information on this pokemon, it was also a psychic type besides a normal one. I could see Whitney grin out of the corner of my eye.

"And I still have one more after this! That is… if you can beat this one!" She looked to her pokemon and she nodded to it before it raced over to Shocker without a command. My eyes widened as I watched it fast approach.

"Shocker move, then iron tail!"

"Counter it with iron tail too!" I watched as both our pokemon's tails glowed metallic light before they crashed into one another. I saw both pokemon struggling under the grip until Shocker somehow threw the girafarig's tail off and then he threw around his again to smack his tail right in its face. The pokemon hissed as it was thrown back, but quickly caught its footing once more and charged at my pokemon. "Use stomp!"

"Roll out of the way Shocker!" My pokemon had only just made it out in time as the enemy pokemon raised itself up on its hind legs and let its weight come crashing down through its front hooves that cracked the ground slightly under it. Shocker had rolled off to the side and quickly got to his feet, ready for the next command.

"Now! Use thunderbolt!" Shocker cried out as he unleashed a powerful beam of thunder right off of his body toward the long necked pokemon. It took on the attack, but stayed well up on its feet, even if it did sway a bit.

"Hold on Girafarig! Use confusion then psybeam!" The pokemon's eyes suddenly lit up purple like and stared straight into Shocker's. He cried out as the unseen attack hit him head on and his attack was disturbed and the giragarig was released from its hold. While it still seemed paralyzed, it was able to get out of there and the use its other move, a rainbow like psychic power that emerged from its mouth and was blasted at Shocker, which threw him back. While he was able to get up from the move, I watched him look a little tipsy on his feet, Shocker was confused.

"Dang it!" I hissed under my breath. "Hold off for a bit Shocker, come back and let the confusion wear off. Cynder will take your place." I saw my pokemon about to argue with me, but once he almost feel over again, he nodded and allowed himself to be pulled off the field and Cynder took his place. She blasted fire out of her head and back while she puffed it out of her mouth too, intimidating the enemy pokemon. It worked as the weakened pokemon backed up a bit.

"Hang in there Girafarig! You can handle this one! Now use confusion then psybeam again!" Whitney's order echoed in the room and the pokemon got its confidence back before its eyes glowed and Cynder instantly put her head down and closer her eyes.

"It's strait in front of you Cynder! Knock it out of here with flame wheel!" My fire type huffed out fire from its mouth before it was engulfed in flames and it suddenly rolled along the ground in a large wheel of fire. The pokemon on the other side of the field screeched before it was hit and thrown back from the attack and crashed into the wall behind Whitney, she gasped and turned as she faced her fallen pokemon that fell from the hole in the wall and was out cold.

"Girafarig!" She hurried over to the pokemon to make sure it was alright before she congratulated it and then returned it to its pokeball and called out a final pokeball, which looked much older and used, it must have been a very close pokemon to Whitney and one of her oldest and strongest pokemon.

She sighed and stood up in her trainer box while looking at the pokeball. "You know, it's been a long time since I've felt concerned that I'd loose the battle." She gripped the pokeball a little more. "But this is where we crush you! Go miltank!" Out from her pokeball came a large pink cow with black fur around its head and over its ears, paws, feet, and the furry round ball at the end of its tail.

"Just how many of these powerful and strange normal types do you have?" I pulled out my pokedex again as I looked at the screen as the picture of the pokemon came up. _Miltank, the milk cow pokemon. Its milk is packed with nutrition, making it the ultimate beverage for the sick of weary. If it is around babies, the milk it produces contains much more nutrition than usual. It is seen somewhat on routes thirty-eight, thirty-nine, and forty._

"You up for this last battle Cynder?" My fire pokemon nodded to me as it continued to fire around its body. "Alright then, start out with flame wheel!"

"Counter it with rollout Miltank!" Both of our pokemon started out rolling in a ball around the battlefield, one covered by a light layer of dust from the ground, the other covered in a thick veil of fire. It took them a short while to actually collided, but once they did, the dust and the dirt was kicked up in a violent way. The winds were so strong from the force I was forced myself to drop to the ground on my knees and cover Ticky up with my body to protect her while my other two pokemon curled into me as well.

I suddenly heard a cry and I looked up as the wind was cut off like a light and both pokemon were thrown back. The miltank looked like it had taken hardly any damage while Cynder looked much worse off, her short fur was ruffled and I could see the dirt that had been kicked up all over her and lots of scuff marks. She brushed it off, however, and motioned for the miltank to come at her again.

"Rollout!"

"Flame wheel!

The two at them went at it again, and again, and again, each time with the same results. While the miltank was taking on more damage with every collision, Cynder was taking ever so much more. She was breathing heavily now and was struggling to stand. But we had to win this battle for another badge, and I was too lost in it to think about others things that I was glad I couldn't think of at the time.

"One more time! Go with rollout!" Whitney called from the other side. Her pokemon breathed heavily from all the moving around, but it nodded and lept into a fast paced rolling ball that kicked up dirt once more.

"One more time Cynder! Flame wheel!" My pokemon heaved in a breath of air before she headed off again. The two attacks once again circled around the field, over time their attacks had caused the ground crack and move all over the place or scorch, before hitting each other once more and the two struggled against each other before Cynder's fire disappeared and the attack hit her head on and threw her up in the air. She screeched as she came flying down into the ground and made a crater.

"Cynder!" I cried out to her.

"Now let's finish it off Miltank! Use body slam!" Her pokemon nodded as it came out of its rollout for a second before it started back up again to get some momentum and fly over my fire type before flattening out on its stomach in the air.

"Crud!" Whitney was finally going to have her way and take out of my poekmon, but we wouldn't do it without a fight and doing some damage. I noticed that while rolling along the ground, the miltank took little damage except from just rolling around and tiring itself out. The best way to attack it is when it's not in that form. "Come on Cynder! Use smokescreen and then ember!"

My pokemon spitted out with a last ditch effort to make some damage on this monstrously strong like pokemon. A thick black smoke came out of her mouth that the miltank flew into when she got closer to my trapped and tired pokemon. Suddenly the entire smoke was lit up in an explosion of flames and all the ground shook and cracked opened around them. Whitney screamed as she watched the place go up in flames and smoke, literally.

"Miltank!" she cried out.

"Cynder!" I gasped as I watched the damage. I watched as from the smoke emerged the miltank with many burns all over its skin and fur. It hissed in pain as it had jumped out of the smoke and skidded to a stop right before Whitney. I rushed out onto the field, setting Ticky with her other siblings before I hurried out to see if Cynder was alright. As the smoke cleared and I ran into the black fog and fading flames to find the crater much deeper then what I expected. Cynder was crushed and laid out on her back in the deepest part of the crater, black muck of some kind was stuck to the rocks and part of the gym that was crushed and shifted from all the damage, it was also all over my poor fire misfit.

"Cynder…" She cracked her open her eyes and tried to shift her joints and she cried out in extreme pain. I hushed her and crawled down into the pit and pulled her grimy body into my arms. "You just rest girl, you were amazing, don't worry, we'll avenge you." She nodded as I returned her to her pokeball and I climbed out of the hole and looked back to my two remaining pokemon that could and would fight. "Alright Shocker, you wanna take a crack at it now that you're better?" My electric pokemon nodded. He'd since recovered from his confusion as he took a break on the sidelines and was able to walk straight as he made his way onto the field.

"That pokemon of yours won't last long!" Whitney called out to me. "Now Miltank! Start with rollout and knock out that pokemon!" It nodded, and even while it hissed at the pain from the burns on its skin, it jumped and started to roll toward Shocker.

"Alright Shocker, jump into the hole that Cynder was in! Get to the very bottom!" My pokemon looked at me in fear for a moment, but after he looked at my face, he nodded and rushed down there while the rollout jumped right after him.

"Get it Miltank!" The rolling pokemon raced after my electric one that had already dived into the hole. I couldn't see Shocker from where he was, but if had remembered correctly, Cynder was in a small cavern at the bottom of the hole that was quite thick, that even that rollout attack would take a while to get through to it.

"Stay in that tiny cavern Shocker! From down in there, shock the Miltank with thunderbolt!" I watched as the rolled into the hole and I watched as a large bolt of electricity came flying out, throwing back the miltank into the air above. It was thrown out of its rollout and was still up in the air just from the attack.

"Body slam!" Whitney called out.

"Thunderbolt!" I ordered Shocker. I watched as a strong bolt of lighting came out of the hole again and it struck the miltank as it spread out its body to let it fall. It soon began its decent while taking on the full force of the attack. I could see the sparks lighting up all over its body, showing it was now paralyzed as well as burned before it crashed into the hole.

"Shocker!" I cried out as my pokemon was smashed upon, there was no way that little cavern would hold up the weight and the angle of the attack by that pokemon. The miltank was able to pull itself out of the hole, but just barely as I saw the electricity and burns slowing down and even stopping its movement entirely as I ran by it to check on Shocker at the bottom of the hole. I saw here was down there, totally knocked out from the attack. I sighed and jumped down to pull him out, his fur had been sooted from Cynder's last attack that had dirtied this entire hole.

"You did great Shocker, you get a good rest and Sunrise will finish this." I returned him and crawled back out of the hole a second time before I looked to my newest pokemon added to my team and that last one that could right. "Alright Sunrise, let's finish this up and get our gym badge!"

My eevee nodded and jumped out onto the field, staring down the enemy pokemon with a grin and a glint to her eyes. The miltank tried to stair her down right back, but it didn't work with all the pain and damage it had taken. It only made Sunrise's grin widen and her glint in her eyes become brighter.

"Alright Miltank, let's use rollout one more time!" Whitney called out to her pokemon and it moved forward to complete the attack, but it stopped from a sudden large spark that came from its stomach and it stopped. "Miltank!"

"Just what I was hoping for!" I grinned at the pokemon before us. "Let's wrap this up Sunrise! Use swift, quick attack and then iron tail in that order on the miltank! Put it out of its misery!"

From her mouth came a large stream of glittering, glowing and spinning stars that raced across the field in almost a beam like attack at the miltank. It cried out as it took the attack and was thrown backward. Before it could even hit the ground, Sunrise hit it to the side with a quick attack where she was almost lost in its belly. The pokemon was thrown back out of it and suddenly Sunrise's tail turned metallic in color before she used her speed from her last attack to hit head on the miltank. The pokemon finally came crashing down and even fell in the hole that my pokemon had both been defeated, but caused the most damage in.

"Miltank!" Whitney cried out as tears just strolled down from her eyes as she hurried over to her last pokemon. Sunrise called me over and I quickly grabbed Ticky in my arms so I didn't loose her and hurried over there. When I looked down at the bottom, which went down a lot further then it had before, I saw the miltank was down and out, its lower half of its body stuck in the ground and its eyes covered in x's.

"We did it Sunrise! We won our third badge!" Sunrise cheered with me and leapt onto my shoulder and rejoiced while Whitney cried over her pokemon. I calmed down when I saw how upset she was.

"Hey Whitney?" I slowly walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" She looked up at me with tearful eyes. "Oh yeah… sorry about that, I always get upset when I lose." She kissed the top of her pokemon's head and congratulated it before she returned it to its pokeball. "You fought like crazy, even when your pokemon were at a disadvantage to my miltank's ground type attacks, you held it together and figured out how to weaken her when you got the chance, and for all of that and an impressive victory, you deserve this badge, my badge, the plain badge."

I was handed a small square shaped badge that was edged with a mid-tone silver color and had a center large square that was a plain dulled yellow. I grinned at the badge before I placed it with my two others and held out one of my hands for Whitney to shake. "Thank you Whitney, this was a great battle, and it got my mind off of things. I think I'm going to head up north early tomorrow morning and head to the next city, I'm excited to see what's up there for history with the two towers that stand there."

"And the next gym leader is there too, I'll give Morty a call and let him know that you're coming his way." She smiled and the tears from her eyes dried up. "And I'll make sure to kick that boy's butt for what he did to you, now go get some rest, you'll need it for your traveling tomorrow. There tends to be lots of trainers on routes thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven and inside the National Park."

"Thanks Whitney, I'm going to get out of here before he looks here for me." I turned to leave when I remembered something. "Oh! And by the way, his name is Aaron Verin!"

Her eyes suddenly turned a bit dark. "I'll _crush_ him!"

I chuckled nervously. "Well… thanks again Whitney, I hope to see you again soon some time!" She waved to me, her scary expression gone as I hurried out with my two pokemon that were still awake for the most part. I needed to heal up, and since I was done in the city so soon and needed to get out of here…

I knew one gutsy young woman who would love a call from me.

**Violet's Point of View:**

I stretched as I lay out in the trees on the trail of route thirty-six. I'd been looking for more Team Rocket activity when one of my undercover sources in the region told me one or two had been spotted on this route heading north to Ecruteak City, but sadly I hadn't come up with anything. It sucked to be honest and I was bored and tired out of my mind.

I suddenly heard my phone ring and all my pokemon sleeping and or resting around me groaned at the noise of it. I apologized to them and got up form my spot against a large brand and jumped to the ground as I took the call. "Hello?"

"_Hey Violet! I hope I didn't call you at a bad time._" I heard the voice of my young little girlfriend on the other side and my boredom prays had been answered.

"No, no, no!" I told her quickly. "You called me at the best possibly time, I was about ready to die from boredom."

"_I guess I called at a good time them… hey, I got my third gym badge today from Whitney, she was tough to beat._"

"I agree, back when I faced her a couple years back, it was her miltank that was a pain in my ass the entire time, almost made one of my pokemon faint, but we pulled through."

"_Just out of curiosity, who did you use in your battle if you only used one pokemon?_"

"I used Chalcedony; he can be quite the little devil when he wants to be." I pouted my lips. "To be honest though Hon, you don't sound exactly like you want to talk about that right now, did you and Aaron not make up?"

"_Oh my goodness, don't ask me that._" I heard her groan and sigh on the other side. "_Sorry, today hasn't been too pretty and I'm a bit emotional over it. Aaron and I made up yesterday, but today we had another fight over the names I gave to my two newest pokemon, the egg that hatched, a togepi I named Ticky, and a eevee that was given to me by Bill Hugh I named Sunrise._"

"But those are cute names, why would he through a fit over them? And why start another fight with you when you only patched up?"

"_I don't know!_" she snapped on the other end. "_Sorry Violet, but he and I need a vacation from each other, especially me. I'm tired of him just making me feel so angry and guilty… and whenever I think about that, it makes me think of you._"

"Oh I'm so touched Hon, here, I've got some ideas already working in my head." I stood up from my spot and pulled out a couple tickets I had in my pockets. "Hey, I've got a set of tickets to this little karaoke place just on the edge of the city to the north of here and its pokemon friendly, even to little baby pokemon like Ticky, so why don't we go over there tomorrow for a while and enjoy ourselves?"

"_How did you even get those?_" I heard her gasp. "_I've heard about that club, but it's almost impossible to get into. Only friends and friends of friends of the people who own it or those who prove their worth can get tickets or passes._" She quieted down. "_I've always wanted to go to Tempted Heart..._"

I shrugged. "I offered to sign some autographs for the people at the club if I got a pass for me and pokemon and a friend of my choice. They agreed."

"_What should I wear? I don't have any clothes that are more party like, like yours._" I heard her voice turn a bit sad.

"Now don't you worry about that Hon, I'll pick out something for you tonight, the stores are still open and have a great idea about what you should wear. But just a quick question…"

"_Yes?_"

"What's your opinion on corsets?"

**Witch's Note:**

**Yeppie! Another chapter bites the dust and now we're onto a little bit of a club one to have a little break from the drama for a little bit! Don't you just love Violet? She's always prepared for any situation!**

**Anyway, so now we've met little Ticky and Sunrise, the two newest members of Gwyn's team! And Sunrise even helped Gwyn win her third badge! Awesome right? Well, I'd better get started on that next chapter! Oh that's gonna be so fun!**

**Don't forget to please send me either Reviews or PMs with Questions on them, or even just a Review would be nice!**

**Love you all and see you next week!**

_**Halloween Witch**_


	9. Funny Little Things

_Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage_

_Chapter 9: Funny Little Things_

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

The next morning I woke up bright and early, but that was only because I went to bed really early, like eight or nine at night early, if not, then sooner. I wanted as much rest as possible, while also getting up as soon as possible to make sure Aaron didn't get to me, honestly, what's come over him these days? We never used to argue like this, sure, maybe we had a little fight every few times a year, but not like this! All I knew was that I needed a break from him, and whether or not he liked it, he was gonna get one from me too.

It was five in the morning right now, a perfect time to get out of here. I could walk while my pokemon got more sleep in their pokeballs, all but the exception of Cynder, who had somehow woken up just a few minutes after I had.

"You can go back to sleep if you want Cynder, I'll be alright for an hour or two until I meet up with Violet." My pokemon only shook her head at me and I sighed. "Okay then, your choice. Help me pack up, we'll leave after I get changed and what not."

My fire pokemon nodded and helped take care of the items that I'd yet to pack. While she did that, I threw off my night clothes for her to stuff in my bag and changed in my room. With only Cynder in the room and all the others asleep in their pokeballs (the only one I really had to worry about being Shocker since he was the only male on my team) I didn't exactly care to go all the way into the bathroom just to change.

Once I was all done with taking care of things and getting dressed, I made sure I had everyone and everything on me as to not leave anything behind before I closed the door to my room, with me on the other side and locked it before heading downstairs to return my key. I saw the chansey that ran the night shift was working at the counter when I came down, I set my key there and she heard it and turned around.

"Thanks for the stay Chansey; I'll see you around when I come back to the city in the future." The pokemon's eyes widened and it suddenly was over the counter and it grabbed onto my jacket trying to pull me back.

"Chansey!" it cried out. "Chansey! Chansey! Chansey!"

"Hey! Let go!" When it wouldn't let go after a few moments and I'd pulled long enough for her to tolerate, Cynder got nasty and bit its hand, forcing it to screech before it fell backward. I was going to help it, but then I remember it was trying to keep me here, so I simply apologized as I rushed out the door and headed north.

The city of Goldenrod had been quiet for the first time ever as I walked down the dark street that were only lit by pole lights ever hundred feet or so. Cynder kept her body curled up around my neck as we walked in the cold early morning. It was quite chilly as the winter was slowly starting to settle in, but we still had a week or two left before the snow would be coming to our region, and I would enjoy every moment of it.

Route thirty-five was pretty short, not to mention that because of how early it was, we were able to pass trough it relatively quickly without any trainers out and about to get in our way. The only exception to this was the police officers that stopped us every so often since it was so strange to see a trainer out and about at five-anything in the morning.

"Hey girl!" Another one caught my attention as I approached the gate to the National Park that I was supposed to meet Violet at. "What the hell are you doing out here this early in the morning? Don't you know what time it is? Or what kind of people could be hanging out around here?"

"I'm meeting a friend here," I told him. "She said to meet her here whenever I got up."

"I don't care what reasoning you have little miss, go back the way you came. Come back at a reasonable hour or I'll arrest you with the assumption that you're up to no good or associated with Team Rocket!"

"Team Rocket?" I questioned him harshly. "I fought against them you idiotic supposed law enforcer! It was because of me that they didn't take over Azalea Town!" Cynder hissed at him and he backed up a bit.

"That's it! You're under arrest!" He made his way toward me and Cynder blew fire at his face.

"Stay away from me you jerk!"

Apparently my scream caught the attention of something near by, because in the next second I watched as the police officer was lifted off the ground. I watched as he cried out and his uniform was ripped off him and a darker one of some kind was underneath. I turned away while I heard all the tearing and ripping. I turned back when I sounded quiet and I gasped at what I saw. It was a Rocket grunt that was floating above me.

"Thank you Gwyn, you saved me the trouble of having to find this idiot." My head wildly turned off to the side and I gasped as I watched Violet step out of the forest with Chalcedony on her shoulders, Amber at her feet and all of the other four of her pokemon looked through the trees in the darkness at the grunt. He looked in fear back at her and all her pokemon and started to hyperventilate as he was pulled closer to her.

"Violet!" My worries instantly vanished as I saw the young woman appear with her powerful team. I hurried around the floating grunt and ran into her arms where I suddenly felt a thick wave of protection wash over me. She hugged me back just as tightly and held me to her, much like she had the first day we met. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you!"

"I'm sure." She patted down my hair before she turned her attention back to the Rocket member she had captured. "Now then, I believe you may know a thing or two that I wish to know." I turned my head to see what she was doing, but I still hugged myself to her body. Cynder growled from her place on my shoulder and Violet patted her body to try and calm her.

"What exactly did you want to know Violet?" I questioned her and looked up at her face. It was angry, it was furious, it was… well… a word I promised myself I'd never use since it's like a swear. But regardless of that, this woman was beyond furious with this man and his organization.

"Just a few things Gwyn, my long time friend Rosie runs their operations so I need to stay in the loop." The grunt gasped out in fear. "And when I heard that there was a grunt wandering about in the area, I decided that I'd better find him, but I wasn't having any luck so I was going to have a fun day with you while keeping an eye out, but I guess now I don't have to."

"Raoo!" Violet turned to look over at her dragon type pokemon that peaked its head out of the forest. "Ra raoo ra!"

"Not a bad idea Zircon." The young woman looked down at me. "Why don't you go with Zircon and Amber and check out the National Park for the sunrise while I deal with this guy?"

I blinked up at her. "Are you sure? Am I going to get in the way?"

"No, it's not that Gwyn." She patted my head and handed me over to her dragon pokemon. "You see, I'm going to be interrogating him, and I tend to not be so nice when dealing with these guys, so I'd rather you not see me at my worst. Don't worry; I'll meet up with you in a little bit, I just need to get some information out of him and then leave him to my brother or Alex, whoever is in the region."

"Alright then…" I sighed as I realized I'd miss out on this interrogation, but it was probably the best, I don't know how I'd deal with Violet's kind of interrogation.

"Don't be down Gwyn," Zircon took me up into his arms before he flew up into the air and Violet grinned at me. "Enjoy the morning, trust me, it'll be worth it and I'll join you as soon as possible. If I'm lucky, it shouldn't take me more then a few minutes."

Before she could say more, Zircon took off to the area just a slight bit to the north with Amber and Cynder hanging onto me. I could barely see the outline of Violet as she vanished into the woods with the Rocket grunt and her other pokemon.

_I hope she doesn't hurt him too bad, he may be a bad guy, but that doesn't mean she __**should**__ like really hurt him._

**Violet's Point of View:**

I took the grunt deep into the woods and as far out of Gwyn's hearing as possible. She was still a young girl, she didn't need to see or here what I may have to do to the grunt should he not cooperate. A couple years ago, the police and government had called up a special meeting concerning the factor of Team Rocket and its bosses. When then meeting had finally adjourned, I'd been given the right to do anything, with the exception of death and cutting off limbs, so long as it got me information pending Team Rocket's operations and Team Rocket alone, anything else would be a violation of the freedom of… _persuasion_ they've given me and would be considered against the law and they would either fine me or put me in jail.

Once we were far away enough, I had Ruby hold the grunt down to the ground with her pincers where he couldn't move or he'd lose a limb. "Now then," he looked up to me in fear as Chalcedony's red eyes took over mine and he tried to back away in fear. "I'd like to know a few things and your going to tell me those things, got it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" He spat at me, but Chalcedony jumped over my head and took the hit for me. His eyes blazed over and he fired a shadow ball at his face and his crotch, causing him to howl out in pain.

"Really? I seriously doubt that." My dark type jumped to the ground and walked around the grunt. I nodded to my dark type and he then used his own psychic attack to enter the mind of the man that was before us. The grunt rolled about as he tried to protect his mind and halt the pain, but my and Chalcedony's power was stronger. His mind gave way to its intruder and allowed us entry to look at all his memories.

"Now let's see… hmm…. That isn't it…" I jumped over most of his memories that were working in one of his bases, it didn't matter, the layout of the base, if I didn't know the location of the place. Many memories flew by until I'd flown over most of them and finally it came to the point where I saw there was nothing of interest in this grunts mind, either that, or Rose and her high up admins didn't want any of the grunts to know anything in case I did catch them.

"Damn… you suck Rose." I released the mind of the grunt and he silently collapsed to the ground. I shook my head and turned back to Amethyst. "Tie him up for me girl, I'm going to make a quick call to Vince to let him know about this member."

"Rhu," she agreed and got to work while I pulled out my phone. I'd stolen my brother's number the last time I'd been with him and Alex so they couldn't track me as easily as I'm sure they'd like. I'd recently programmed their numbers into my phone so I had the two of them on speed dial. I pressed the number three button and waited for anyone to answer.

"_Hello?_" I heard my brother sigh. "_This better be important, whoever you are._"

"Of course it is big brother." I could image his eyes turning wide as I spoke. "Listen, I've got a knocked out grunt I tried to get information from here in the woods on route thirty-five. He had no information of interest, but I'd interrogate him again anyway in case I missed something. I'm going to tie him up, come and get him."

"_But wait! Violet-_" I hung up on my brother before he could talk to me longer and I turned off my phone. I didn't need him being able to track my phone. When I looked back to my pokemon, Amethyst had just finished tying up the grunt and the others were helping her tie him to a tree.

"Alright you guys, let's head out and meet up with Gwyn." I left the grunt by himself as I grabbed onto Amethyst and she carried me into the still darkened sky, thought it was rapidly turning lighter. I'd have to hurry it I wanted to make it there before the sunrise!

**Vincent's Point of View:**

"Damn it! She hung up on me!" I hissed as I threw the phone onto the bed.

"Relax a bit Vince; you're as wound up as I was about your sister when we were kids." I scowled at Alex as he sat calmly on the other bed; the only thing he wore at the moment was a pair of black sweatpants since we just got up out of bed in the pokemon center room we were sharing.

"And you're not worried?" I questioned him angrily. He only shrugged at me.

"I've learned to trust Violet and it's really mellowed my mood, you should try it." He yawned as he got up from the bed and headed toward the bathroom. "You go get that grunt Violet was talking about and I'll keep an eye on the region here and that kid Aaron you've taken under your wing, maybe I can set the idiot straight." His eyes suddenly turned dark and lustful. "And I want my chance to look for my girlfriend."

"Well excuse me for taking to long then; I've only been here in this region for a week!"

"Well someone has to look after the gym!"

"And I expect that you want that to be me?"

"I haven't seen Violet in months; I deserve the right to get a chance to see her during this little game of hers if I have the chance!"

"And I'm her brother! I have more of a reason then you do!"

"Vince! Alex!" Pounding was on our door that stopped our argument. I sighed and walked over to the door.

"We'll finish this later Alex." He snorted and crossed his arms as I let the door swing wide and Aaron came racing in and grabbed onto me. The kid had an iron grip and he refused to let go, even as I struggled.

"Gwyn's gone!"

"Well duh, I heard her arguing and struggling against the chansey down at the front desk at nearly five of so this morning." Alex sighed as he curled back up on his bed.

"But Gwyn's probably going to meet up with Violet!" Aaron cried out and it caused both of us to look back at him. "From the way I see it, Violet only shows up when Gwyn's alone, I don't know why, but that's how it works with them. I know that they're up in that area somewhere!" Alex jumped off the bed and quickly grabbed his things.

"Alright kid, get out while we get ready, we'll be out in a few minutes, while we waiting, head back over to that gym and win your badge this time around and don't let a pissed off gym leader stop you this time!"

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

I sighed happily as Zircon carried me over the National Park to see the night due over what was left of the plant life in the area. Snow was soon going to fall and turn this place into a winter wonder land and a frozen region in the next couple weeks, so I was going to enjoy the snow free area while I could. Everything almost seemed to sparkle from dew and ice from the lasting rays of the moon, but it soon faded as the sun started to rise up from the tree line.

"Hey! Did I miss it?" I turned my head and Violet came up strong and fast with the rest of her pokemon that hadn't be left with me to watch me. Cynder grinned from where she sat as she puffed out some fire to help keep me warm.

"Violet!" I cheered as she made her way closer. She pulled me off the back of her dragon pokemon and onto the back of her fire pokemon with her to stay warm. "No, you haven't missed it yet, you're just in time!"

"Glad to hear!" She chuckled. "And don't you worry about that grunt at all, alright? I called my brother and he's going to jail."

I blinked at her. "Did you get anything out of him?"

She groaned. "Not a thing, Rose knew not to let her subordinates know her operations since I was in the region, so I have no way of knowing her operations until I find that lucky grunt that knows what I want and need to know." She looked past me and suddenly smiled. "Hey, here comes the sun."

I blinked and turned around as I gasped as the beauty that the bright red sun had over the landscape that took its red hue and colored the land below. It was amazing to see, not to mention the orangey pink sky. Cynder was quite happy with the sight too, she curled up in my lap and watched it with ease.

I suddenly heard one of my pokeballs opening and watched as little Ticky emerged from her pokeball. Right afterward, so did Shocker and Sunrise, who all tiredly rubbed their eyes before they looked up and saw the sun. I heard all of them gasp as they watched the beautiful display of nature before they all turned back to me and curled in my lap with Cynder.

"Good morning you guys, sorry I didn't wake you up." They didn't seem to really care and ignored my apology to them.

"Flaa! Flaaffy flaa!" Shocker demanded of me. "Flaa flaa flaaffy flaa?"

"Oh alright," I sighed and turned to Violet. "Sorry Violet, my pokemon are hungry."

"Oh don't worry about it Gwyn, I've got breakfast all set up, its one of the reasons that I took so long to get to you, that and sleeping in a bit." She only rubbed the back of her head nervously. "So anyway, now that we've seen the sunrise, let's go eat and then we'll start heading over to the club."

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

Violet had flown us down inside the park for a quick breakfast that she'd prepared for us, in this cold weather and staying outside, but in the cover of a quiet cave that was big enough for all of us, she'd prepared some corn beef hash, sausage, bacon, pancakes and French toast. She also brought along warm milk for Ticky while all the others had either hot chocolate or hot apple cider. It was very delectable to say the least and I was quite pleased that I ate more then I probably should have.

Once breakfast was done with and the sun was now rising in the sky, the time being almost ten in the morning now, Violet and I packed up our things and we headed off toward the north along the routes that Violet had been hanging out on for the past few days or so while I was in the city. It was still a bit of a walk to head over to where the club was since it was all the way out on the edge of the next town, not to mention that Aaron and Tristan would be coming after us soon, or at least me since I took off early morning without anyone knowing.

During the time that we walked together along the path, Violet couldn't help but laugh at what took place between me and the gym leader of Goldenrod, Whitney, who offered to take him down a peg or two for me. It was nice not having to see him after what happened. I may have to do this more often, getting away from Aaron, all the fun stuff and less stressful things about friend happens when your alone, since there's no one to argue with but your pokemon.

"Oh I'm so glad we're almost there!" Violet sighed as we walked up the road on route thirty-seven. "I'm in _so_ desperate a need for a bath or shower!"

"Have you not had one for a while?" My head tilted on its side as I asked her that. She blinked before she shrugged at me, causing Chalcedony to stir on her shoulder before simply curling back up around her neck and going back to sleep.

"For a few days, not much longer then that." She sighed and shivered. "Most of my baths nowadays are in the cold rivers and lakes, with the exception of a pokemon center that keeps it quiet that I've been there."

"That sounds really awful, and I hate the cold to begin with, I can't image doing that in the freezing lakes and rivers of this region." I shivered at the thought and it reminded me of frostbite and hypothermia.

"Well, today will be the exception, and I'm quite looking forward to it." She sighed and I watched her cheeks turn a little pink. "I can already imagine the warm water flowing over and all around my body… now if only I had Alex too…"

"Have him for what?" I asked her wearyingly, my mind went deeply south on that comment.

"No! Not like that!" She stuttered as her face turned entirely tomato berry red. She looked away at the ground. "I just… wanted him to cuddle with once I was done… we're not at that point in our relationship yet."

"Oh… sorry." I blushed myself and looked away.

"Oh… don't worry about it Hon, it happens." She breathed deeply to try and relax herself. "So…"

"Hey Violet? Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Why exactly is it that you're trying so extra hard to hide from everyone, and I mean _everyone_, while you're here in my region?" I'd wanted to ask her that question for a long time now since the first time or two after I met her. She always seemed to disappear whenever someone was coming up to me, never had there been more people with her around then me and all our pokemon.

"Oh that?" She snorted a laugh. "Oh, well, the largest reason as you can probably guess is because of Rose." She swung up her arms behind her head. "Its best for her not to know where I am and what I've done to the grunts of hers that are running about the region unattended. It plays to my advantage and her disadvantage."

"Is there another reason?"

"Of course, two actually." She pulled out a paper from her bag and handed it over to me. It was a paper on the latest famous trainers in the world. I looked it over and saw that even I was placed among them for a small segment covering over when I dealt with Team Rocket in Azalea Town, but other then that, it wasn't very big in length. I turned the page to see the other articles and saw it was an article about Violet and her team, family, life, and apparently sightings of her along with statements from the police and her brother and boyfriend as they apparently were trying to locate her. I flipped the page again and saw it was apart of the article of before about Violet. It carried over for a few many pages before I couldn't look anymore and closed it, handing it back to the woman.

"Now you see another reason where I'm staying under the radar?" She placed the article in her bag. "The media and most people in _both_ our regions are apparently obsessed with me. If I come out into the light for anything, Rose'll know where I am in a heart beat. She's got her people everywhere, watching and waiting."

"I can definitely see that reason." I sighed as I tapped my chin lightly with my finger. "But what about the last reason?"

She suddenly burst out laughing and swung her hands behind her back to connect and hold there while she was able to keep her balance and keep walking somehow. "That, my dear Gwyn, is because of a personal game I have going with my boyfriend."

"Personal game?" I blinked at her in question while she couldn't help herself but laugh harder.

"Right about the time when you started your journey Gwyn, I'd come down from the mountain that I've been training on for the past few years, and I sent a letter to my boyfriend. He never really sticks around the gym much as it is. He and my brother are always patrolling the Kanto region, so they're always on the go, just like when we were first starting out."

"But you still haven't explained what this personal game is," I reminded the woman who got off track a bit.

"Oh, that's right, sorry." She calmed down and chuckled. "The game between Alex and I is for him to find me. I promised him that I'd go home with him if he found me, which is why I'm making this game last a long as I can, while having fun and stopping Team Rocket in my spare time."

"Oh… wow…" I was breathless as I took all this information in. "I really envy a couple like you too…"

"Oh don't worry about it Hon, you'll find your other half in time, no one finds it as, as best I can say it, easy as we found it." Her eyes suddenly caught something off in the distance and I looked up ahead as well to see a large building through the thick woods in the middle of a clearing up ahead. "And there's the club Gwyn! Come on! Let's go!" She took hold of my wrist and took off with my pokemon rushing behind me, the only exception to that was Ticky who I carried in my arms the entire time.

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

When we approached the club, I was amazed to see that it wasn't as club like on the outside as you'd think. I saw a large playground for young children and pokemon to play in as well as a large pool that seemed to have a shallow end before it escalated to a deeper end and then went under the house. A lake was alright right near by, only a good hundred to a hundred and fifty feet from the house. The house itself seemed to be hung, almost like a sort of mansion. It was a log cabin like mansion, but it had openings all over the place as well as a food court on the outside with a covered seating area and an outside seating area right next to the pool, lake and playground.

"Whoa…" I couldn't help but let my jaw drop at the appearance and the sheer size of the place. I think my jaw hit the ground at some point or another.

"Well?" Violet grinned as she pulled me forward again. "Let's get going! We'll get a quick little tour of the place by the owner and we'll go up and get changed and wait up there before the party starts, we're going to surprise the guests tonight with me and you."

"Wait, me?" I gasped and stepped back a bit. "Why me?"

"Your getting more famous now too Gwyn, your going to have to start getting use to this if you keep taking on Team Rocket like this, just don't let this part of life get to you head." She grinned and dragged me toward the building where a person was waiting for us in the outside food court. It was a young man that was a little older then Violet and a grin plastered on his face.

"Welcome Champion! Welcome Miss Jalen! Welcome to _Tempted Heart_!" I felt my nerves settling in as we approached. I kept a harsh grip on Violet's hand while I held onto the Ticky for support and Sunrise jumped up to my shoulder while my other two pokemon stood down at my feet. "We are honored to have both of you and all your amazing pokemon here for tonight's party. Now," he handed Violet a paper, "this is the schedule for the night, around four to five, we'll announce that you girls are here and let the people have some time to ask you questions and get autographs, all people that are coming tonight have already sworn that not a word of this will get out until a week after the event, and all of them are trustworthy people that I know, so there is no need to fear. After that, we'll start serving food for everyone; we also already have a small booth in the back for you and all your pokemon for the night. We'll be doing this for most of the night, and around eight we're going to allow people to sing and do karaoke, after that, people usually tend to start flooding out a bit since they have work the next day, not too many stay much longer then one in the morning so I wouldn't be too worried."

"Sounds wonderful, Gwyn and I will go get changed and cleaned up then if you don't mind getting us a quick bite to eat for lunch, will you?" He nodded eagerly and took off while showing us where the bathrooms were on the second floor in a spare room they had.

Violet took the first shower since she wanted to get herself ready and then help me with my own outfit that apparently she picked out for me, which she also said I couldn't look at until after I was clean and what not. I stayed out with my pokemon and hers while we waited on her.

I suddenly heard the shower turn off and after a few minutes, I saw Violet appear from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around herself and a hair brush in her hands. She was dry for the most part, but kept the towel on to save the eyes of the three male pokemon in the room. She grinned when she saw me and walked confidently into the room.

"Alright, why don't all male pokemon and anyone who wants to join them head out to the playground outside while Gwyn and I get ready, that way the boys won't see us and you won't be bored while waiting on us." The pokemon all easily nodded and wide open went the window and all of them raced out. The exceptions to this were Chalcedony, who was too lazy to move and was curled up on the bed with his eyes away from us, Cynder, Ticky and Sunrise. Shocker had fled with the pack because he didn't want to see me without clothes on.

"You guys don't have to stay if you don't want to." I encouraged them. "Why don't you two take Ticky out to have some fun on the playground? If you guys don't like it or Ticky gets upset, you're welcome to come back whenever you want."

"Toge!" Ticky cried out and tears poured from her little black eyes as she wailed on the bed. I sighed and picked her up.

"Alright Ticky, you can stay here with Momma." Her sobbing stopped and she cuddled closer to my chest. I sighed. "You need a bath anyway."

"Go head in Gwyn; I'll get things ready out here for you after I get ready. Give me a holler when you're done with Ticky and I'll take her." I nodded and stepped into the bathroom and closed the door, instantly being wrapped by the warmth from the shower that Violet had just taken.

I filled the sink up with some warm water and I set Ticky down into it. After she was settled and had calmed down to the point where she was splashing about in the water, I started to peel off the clothing that I had on and Ticky watched curiously as I stepped into the shower.

The warm water felt good over my shoulders as I stepped in. Thankfully I'd taken care of all my other necessities that would have needed to be done while in the shower last night, so I just had to wash up and what not. It felt good to run the soap over my body and through my hair, destroying all the natural oils my skin produced and doing away with the grim.

"Toge?" I blinked and quickly looked down to Ticky as she stood in the entrance to the shower, the curtain pulled back enough so she could stick her head in and look at me.

I sighed. "Alright Ticky, we'll take care of you first." I reached out of the shower and into the drawer to grab a cloth that I wet down and lathered with soap before I picked her up and turned my back to the shower water and started to wash her down. "You know you could have at least waited for me to get done with my shower first."

She looked up at me and didn't quite care what I said. She smiled and patted my chest playfully with the water and soap running down there. She cheered when the bubbles would pop and the water would splash against my skin. It took little time to clean Ticky with how small she was, and apparently I never hurt her at all since she never cried out in pain. I quickly finished her up and set her down by the drain to the shower, out of the way of the shower's beam of water that would surly hurt my baby pokemon.

"Now you wait there Ticky, Momma needs to finish getting cleaned up." She looked up at me in question and quietly got to her feet and made her way back over to my body while I continued to clean myself up and then get the conditioner in my hair. I could feel Ticky patting my legs and feet, playing with the soapy water that came down my body. I sighed, but didn't try to move her so long as it kept her entertained until I could get finished with my shower.

I finally finished a few moments later and grabbed a towel to dry both of us in. I was able to do Ticky first since she was so tiny and then I did myself, but that was hard when all Ticky wanted to was to keep playing. When I finally got my legs dry and Ticky couldn't play with the water on them anymore, she pouted at me while I wrapped the towel around myself and picked her up.

"Alright, now let's go see what Violet's got in store for us." Ticky's pout remained as I walked us out of the bathroom. Once I got out there, I was surprised to see that Chalcedony still remained while both my other pokemon were gone. I guess they'd taken my advice and gone out to play with the others.

I looked to the other side of the room and was shocked to see the amazingly beautiful woman that stood in front of a large make-up table and mirror, apparently putting on the last of her finishing touches. Her hair was boldly curly in thick curls of deep brown and brightened purple highlights from the heating of the curling iron. Her clothes consisted of a set of black shorts, a neon purple strapped top with a v cut in the center, her silver locket around her neck and knee high heeled boots, colored black, finished it off. She hardly had any make-up on other then the bright purple over her eyes which really brought out the liquid brown that swirled around there and some mascara to bring out her lashes. She was applying a set of maroon lipstick when she saw me in the mirror and jumped to her feet.

"There you are Gwyn! And just in time too! I'd just finished with myself!" Violet grinned as she put away the last object that she'd just been using before I saw her reach to put on a set of silver earrings that she had on the table when her hair slide off her shoulders and I saw a large, elaborate tattoo on her back.

"Holy Ho-oh! When did you get a tattoo?" Violet's head lifted up and she looked over her shoulder to see what I was talking about when I pointed to her back.

"Oh that?" She lifted up her shirt over her head so I could get a better look at it. "I got it for my sixteenth birthday for my pokemon, you like?"

Her tattoo started at the base of her lower back all the way up to the back of her neck and both her shoulders. It was an elaborate design of a swirling flame of grayish purple and maroon colors that that start at the lower base of her lower back and went up to the back of her neck before it swirled back down to the center of her back. There was space between this counter-clockwise spinning design. She had small branches of different things that represents the dominate types of her pokemon with a three-dimensional image of the gem of the pokemon's name. They also went in a circle around from the center to the end of the large swirling flame, I guessed that they represented her pokemon and the order how she obtained them. It started with an amethyst surrounded by red and orange fire in the center. Next on the left was lightning bolts and an amber. Then there was a floating line of poison bubbles with a heart. After that on the left was a puffy black cloud with a black chalcedony. Then on the right was glittering silver wind with some hints of green and a ruby. Next on the left was a dragon rage attack of red, purple and black with a blue zircon. Second to last was on the right and was a path of broken earth and a black spinal. Then last at the bottom of her back is a curved set of icicles and a sapphire. Her entire tattoo glitters when any kind of light hits it. They all went in order and it was amazing…

"Its incredible… how did you even get this? I though people weren't allowed to get tattoos until they were eighteen." Violet only chuckled as she pulled her shirt back down.

"Nah, the age is actually sixteen, if you have the permission from a parent or if you're quite high up on the ladder." She laughed. "My dad and Alex are the only ones that actually know about it, along with my pokemon and you now of course. My brother and my mother would flip out if they saw it, so I kept it pretty quiet, at least for the time being that is."

"I don't think you should have to hide it, it looks too beautiful to hide away." I lightly touched her back and she couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Yes, well, I'm afraid that my mother and you have very different opinions. Just knowing the fact that I got a tattoo would kill her, let alone seeing the sure size of it." She then smirked as she grabbed my arm and plopped me down into the chair. "Now time's a wasting! Let's get started on you before things start getting busy downstairs."

I sighed and let the woman do with my hair as she wished. _I hope I haven't made a stupid mistake here…_

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

Time had flown by and before I realized it, Violet had finished with my entire look, hair and make-up for the night. She'd gotten on me a frilly pale pink skirt and some shiny silver and black heels that were open at the toes and had thin straps to hold them to my feet, they looked so nice and new, but Violet had told me they were hers back when she was just a young trainer. I felt so honored when she let me ware them… The rest of the outfit she'd gotten for me was a red corset shirt that had no straps to it, but it thankfully came well up and over my still forming breasts. She'd straitened my hair and pulled back the top half of it to keep it out of my face while I still had some bangs that ran down around and over my eyes. She used a pinkish red make-up for over my eyes and a little mascara for my lashes. The last thing she did was put on a pale red lipstick for me and asked me to put on some silver, small hoop earrings.

"Now you look pretty damn hot Gwyn!" Violet grinned at her work and allowed me to stand up. "Alright you guys! You can all look now!"

Since the time the pokemon had gone out and played, all of them came back inside and cleaned each other up for the club and had waited on the other side of the room. I heard many gasps and sounds echo in the room as our pokemon looked at up. I nervously looked at my pokemon who's jaws all dropped right down to the floor, especially Shocker's, who I think he almost got it disconnected.

"Does it look bad you guys?" I questioned my pokemon worriedly.

"Quil!" Cynder shook her head. "Quil quilava quil!"

"Ee!" Sunrise agreed. "Ee ee eevee ee."

"Toge?" Ticky looked up at me from the bed and looked me over.

"Violet made me extra pretty for tonight, what do you think Ticky?" I got down on my knees so my little baby pokemon could see eye to eye with me.

"Toge? Toge ge toge." She stood up and walked toward me and asked to be held. I snorted a laugh and held her.

"That's really sweet of your Ticky, thanks." I felt a hand on my shoulder and watched as Violet appeared next to me.

"Alright, well we better go introduce ourselves now, it's about time to anyway." I looked at the clock and saw it was five.

"Okay Violet, I'm ready when you are." She nodded and returned all her larger pokemon for the time being while Amber and Chalcedony jumped onto her shoulders and got into their normal spots while I felt the weight of Cynder and Sunrise on my shoulders and Shocker was down at my feet. I followed Violet out of the room and down the long hallway that we'd come up into. I could hear the light music from downstairs already and people talking a bit, but all under the voice of one person who I recognized as the person who showed us upstairs to get ready for this party.

"Alright ladies and gents, people and pokemon of all ages, its time for our special guests to revile themselves to us tonight!" We heard the crowd go up in cheers and Violet and I stopped at the top of the stairs that led down to the first floor where we'd be in the middle of this party. "As I'm sure you all know, no one's see this woman for quiet a long time, so to see her in person and talk to her tonight and meet her team is gonna be a real treat!" The screams got louder and Violet started her decent. "So please welcome Champion Violet Vilmos!" Violet instantly melted into the crowd of people who were waiting downstairs for her and started in shaking as many hands as she could that were thrown in her face as she made her way through the crowd.

"And a special guest that Violet has brought with her tonight. You may know her as the girl who saved Azalea Town from a crisis and risked her own life to kick them out! Please help me welcome… Gwyn Jalen!" I started my way down the steps and was instantly met with a thick crowd of people who also tried to make their way at me. Hands were shoved in my face and I had to race to keep up with them as I looked around for Violet, seeing her at a booth in the very back, I followed after her, listening to the comments of people as I walked by and got seated.

"Now that we have our special guests for the night here, _let's get this party started_!" Cheers went around while many people began to dance and eat the night away and many hurried over toward our table. I was able to make it in time and sat next to Violet in the back as people swarmed at us.

"Now just be careful not to say anything too personal Gwyn, it may be used against you." It was her last line of advice to me and I greedily took it.

**Tristan's Point of View:**

I'd managed to get my hands on a ticket for an apparent kid and pokemon friendly club a short while ago from some woman who had too many things to do rather than go. I normally didn't take things from others, let alone get near people after all that's happened to me in my life, but since that girl, Gwyn, has done all that she has to keep my identity a secret and keep me in the loop with what's happening and keeping me safe, its shaped me into helping others, something I thought I'd never do. The woman I'd helped was a resident of Ecruteck City; she'd nearly lost all her groceries down the street from a broken bag in her hands. She was nice enough and gave me a small lunch along with the ticket for my efforts. I told her there was no need, but she insisted.

So here I am now in the club, _Tempted Heart_. The only real reason I came here was to get some food for tonight and tomorrow if possible. I was still weary of pokemon centers and big cites after I got caught in New Bark Town, but a private little place like this wouldn't know me, and it was too far away from where that event took place. My pokemon, Croconaw, was literally drowning himself in food, it'd been a long time since he last ate and he was quite stuffing his face now to make up for it. Zubat was quietly nibbling on a few small pieces from where he was seated on the table and Ghastly was licking up the food from the plate.

I myself was making sure I had a good fill as well, but for some reason I felt uneasy. Something wasn't right here, and I was sure it was going to happen soon, whatever bad thing it was. I kept watching around for anything that would make me edgy here in this bar, but as I looked around, I saw no one. Maybe it was the special guests for the night… I didn't come quite in time to hear who it was, and the music and people talking was too loud and blurred for me to pick up on anything. It couldn't be Gwyn or Violet though, Gwyn has too many important things like dealing with that best friend of hers, and Violet doesn't exactly like the press, she's been hiding from them for years…

"I never thought that you'd be here at a party Tristan." I chocked on my food and whipped my head around to see the face of Gwyn Jalen next to me, right behind my seat. Her clothing was absolutely stunning… _she_ was stunning… _Wait, why am I thinking that?_ I shook my head and made a move to get up when she slipped into the seat next to me and grabbed a hold of my arm to keep me in place. My pokemon growled, but no one, seemed to take notice, and Gwyn just ignored their growling.

"What do you want?" I felt a little uneasy around, but I didn't sense anything wrong or bad with her around.

"Violet wants to talk with you," she told me softly. "We just finished with all our chatting with people and signing autographs, so we snuck out onto the third floor of this place. Come on." She tugged on my hand and arm and got me up from my seat.  
"And what if I don't want to talk to her?" I fired back at the young girl, but she didn't seem to flinch at my harsh words.

"Then she'll probably drag you out of here, you know how Violet can be." She was right of course, Violet could be a bit ill-tempered if someone wasn't careful with what they said to her. I stood there in a staring contest for a long time with the dark blue haired girl before I finally sighed and gave in.

"Fine." She smiled and continued to pull me along while my pokemon followed in close pursuit.

"You're not nervous at all, are you?" Gwyn questioned me.

"You don't need to know that." I snapped back at her quietly.

She didn't seem to take it to heart and pondered for a moment with a finger of hers tapping her chin. "I just don't see how you could be nervous to see her. Violet's a great person! She's been nothing but helpful and positive."

"You don't think I know that?"

"I just don't understand why you're so afraid of her and so bitter at times." She sighed and turned to face me while we were on the second floor and out of the range of the party. "What happened between you two? Did you have a fight?"

I blinked in surprise. "You… you mean… you don't know?"

"About your past?" she questioned. "All I know is that she helped you escape and run away from home three years ago since you had a rough upbringing. Then someone mentioned an orphanage to you and you took off. That's all I know, nothing more other than that you're past is somehow connected to Team Rocket."

"And Violet's told you nothing more?"

"Nothing, and if Aaron knows anything, he hasn't said a word to me, we made up over that time you saw us fight when I gave back your card, but we fought again and Violet's been helping me get up to the next city and taking my mind off things."

I slowly nodded at the girl and we continued to move up the stairs to the third floor where I saw Violet waiting for me there. I tensed up when I saw her, but it wasn't that bad gut feeling I had earlier.

"Gwyn, could you be a dear and give me a short time alone with Tristan? When I'm done talking up here with him, I'll come back down and we'll do some karaoke before we head to Ecruteck for the night so the two of you can rest." The younger of the two woman nodded and gave my hand a squeeze before she released it and headed back down to the second floor.

"Come along Tristan, you and I have many things to talk about." I sighed and nodded as I followed the woman further on the third floor.

**Violet's Point of View:**

I led Tristan from the stairs and Gwyn, shocked that he actually listened and was following after me so obediently, was left on the stairs with her mouth slightly agape. It honestly scared me to see that some of his scars, even after three years, were still there on him.

"I've heard you've had quite a journey so far, how's it been?" I tried to start up a small conversation with the boy I'd saved three years ago.

"Hm? You actually want to know something like that?" Tristan stuffed his hands into his pockets and huffed. His pokemon followed after him quietly, listening to the conversation that was to take place.

"I wanted to make sure that you were alright," I corrected him. "You ran away from me and everyone three years ago. I was concerned for you."

"Tell me the truth Violet," I heard him stop walking, so I stopped as well and looked over my shoulder at him. "How long did it truly take for you to find me in this region?"

"A few months, not even half a year." I saw him clench his fists and a single tear leaked before the rest of them came falling shortly behind.

"Then why didn't you take me in?" He shouted at me and his hair fell before his face. "If you found me so long ago, why didn't take me into the police? Why?"

I rushed over to him and took the sobbing boy into my arms. "Because you looked happy and free to me."

All sounds from him died. I worried that he'd stopped breathing too, but I felt it on my shoulder. "What?"

"When I saw you in this region, I saw that you were happy and free, I didn't want to ruin that for you after all you'd been through. You deserved so much better than what happened to you in your first eleven years of life. It wouldn't be right of me to force you into a situation you didn't want to be in."

"Then why are you here now?" He looked up at me.

I sighed. "Issues have come up, I've heard you've stolen a few things and Team Rocket is all over the region. It's dangerous out there and I'm worried for all of you."

"I didn't steal Croconaw if that's what you're thinking; he wanted to be on my team." He sighed, his body shook and curled into my body and remained quiet for a moment. "I admit, I did mean to take him… but as soon as he saw me, he thought I was the trainer that was coming to get him and begged me to take him on a journey. So I did it. I did steal the pokedex from Gwyn, and I'm sorry for it, but I needed it to help me achieve my dream, _no_, my ambition."

I stroked his hair soothingly as I spoke. "What ambition? Does it have anything to do with your parents?"

He nodded in my shoulder. "I want to be stronger then them, I want to bring them to justice for all that they've done… I thought… I thought that when you rescued me, you'd help me do that, but when your brother mentioned the orphanage and how I should go there, I… I felt so betrayed, like I'd never be able to stop them and make up for all they done and dragged down onto our shoulders to fix in our regions…"

"So that's the reason…"

"I also…" He stuttered through his tears. "I wanted to be nothing like them! I wanted to treat those that were my friends or my pokemon with love! Something that they can't even begin to understand! I've done that, but I'm not strong enough!" He clenched his fists in rage. "I encountered Ariana, one of my moth-one of _Rose's_ admins in Team Rocket while I was in Ilex Forest. She wiped the floor with me and I barely made it out of there _alive_… she almost got my pokemon and pokedex too…" He chocked up. "If she's that strong, then just how much more powerful is Rose compared to her? How much stronger and how much more time will it take to bring her and her reign of power down?"

I didn't reply, I only stroked his hair and tried to calm him down.

"You make it sounds as if raising pokemon is easy Tristan, its not as easy as you're making it out to say." I finally spoke gently in his ear. "Training takes a long time, pokemon need love and compassion to grow and evolve. You've been doing amazingly, to see how much you've grown over just three years is incredible… but you also have to understand that some of us have been doing this much longer then you have, which is why we're stronger. Even I had to start out somewhere, no different then you did, I wasn't all that strong in the beginning, if I faced Giovanni on my first day of training I would have been probably beaten or killed."

"But your Violet Vilmos!" He pulled my head back to look at me, but my face only showed him a pained smile.

"Yes, and I was a trainer who's name didn't mean squat when I first started out, just out of curiosity Tristan, do you know how long it took for me to become strong? How long was it before I actually took on Team Rocket for real? Not just one here or there, but a large base that I broke into?"

"It was a few months… not quite half a year…" I nodded

"Exactly; and how long had it been since I began my journey when Team Rocket was shut down for the first time before Rose went to the islands?"

"Three quarters of a year to an entire year."

"How long have you had your pokemon?"

"Only a few months…"

"Do you see what I mean?" I stroked his cheek sisterly-like. "Everyone has to start somewhere Tristan; you can't just suddenly become the champion overnight."

"Then explain to me how you became the Kanto champion in only year of being a trainer." His eyes came back up to glare at me.

"Because of how much I believed in my pokemon and how we stood there for each other through thick and thin, how we battled every opponent we came across, and how we became a family." I sighed and felt the presence of all my pokemon in various places in the house or in their pokeballs, all their hearts still connected to mine. "Our hearts are one, we are one, if one feels pain, we all feel pain, if one of us is happy, we're all happy."

He looked away again. "How do I get stronger Violet? How do I stop Rose?"

I sighed; _man was it hard to get through his thick skull…_ "Time will tell Tristan," I blinked for a moment as an idea came over me. "Hey, why don't you travel with me and train with me?" He raised his head in shock and his eyes widened. "If you're so concerned about getting stronger, then travel with me. Plus, I meet up with Gwyn every now and then, you can test your strength with her while we're on the road since you two are about at the same level of strength. We'll stay away from all authorities and you can still take gym challenges to prove your strength too. Maybe even that Aaron kid at one point and time would battle you."

"How do I know you're not going to sell me out?"

"Because I'm not exactly ready to meet up with the authorities or the press, but it's also up to you to believe me or not."

Tristan hesitated, like I knew he would. He crossed his arms and backed away from me a bit as he thought it over. I could see the memories playing in his mind as he thought over whether or not this idea was a good one for him.

"Hey!" I snapped my fingers and his eyes raced to me. "Why don't you take the night to think it over some more and give me your answer later on? I don't need an answer right now if you don't have one."

"I… I'd…" he stuttered and sighed. "I'd like some more time to think."

"That's perfectly alright Tristan." I patted his shoulder and then led him back toward the stairs. "Now why don't we go back down to the party? I promised Gwyn that we'd have some fun here and we've yet to do it!" I grinned and led the red haired boy toward the large party once more. "Karaoke time!"

**Tristan's Point of View:**

I had mixed feelings about Violet's proposal for me to journey with her. It would help me get stronger, I knew that for sure, but I wasn't sure if she'd knock me out in my sleep and send me off to the police or orphanage. I shook my head as I thought things over. While I did that, Violet had set me down at her table for me to rest and think over things. Gwyn had even asked me to look after her baby togepi that she called Ticky while she and Violet were going to have some 'fun' on stage. Exactly how was this keeping her out of the public eye?

"Alright then ladies and gents! We got a special treat for all of you!" I looked up to the DJ and saw that he'd stopped his music while he had a microphone in his hands. "Its time for karaoke!" The crowd erupted in cheers and I could see many people already looking between each other to find out which of them would join in their apparent 'fun' on stage. "We already got us a set of girls who plan to start out for the night! Give it up for our famous twosome! Champion Violet Vilmos and Gwyn Jalen!"

Both of the girls stepped up on stage and I could see Violet's wild grin as she took the microphone in hand and Gwyn quietly grabbed the other.

"Alright you guys, I promised my good friend Gwyn here that we'd have a good time tonight and I've pretty much neglected that until now!" The crowd laughed and she chuckled.

"Violet…" I could hear Gwyn whine though her microphone that she held closer to her lips then she thought.

She only grinned back at the shy girl. "Alright Gwyn, let's have some fun! So anyone know the answer to this?" She turned to the crowd. "Who knows 'This is War'?"

The crowd cried out again as the music began to place; I could hear the guitar in the background and the drum set. She smirked and put her hand on her hip before her mouth relaxed and she almost appeared in a trance.

_"A warning…_

_to the people…  
The good and… the evil.  
This… is… war…  
To the soldier…_

_the civilian…  
the martyr…_

_the victim…  
this… is… war…"_ Violet's voice was soothing as she almost whispered these words to the crowd that she'd locked in her trance. The music then got a bit faster and went up a bit in tempo and she followed it with Gwyn assisting her.  
_"It's the moment of truth,_

_and the moment to lie,  
the moment to live,_

_and the moment to die,  
the moment to fight,_

_the moment to fight  
to fight,_

_to fight,_

_to fight!  
to the right,_

_to the left,  
we will fight… to the death!  
To the edge… of the earth,  
it's a brave new world,  
from the last to the first.  
To the right,_

_to the left,  
We will fight… to the death!  
To the edge… of the earth,  
It's a brave new world,  
It's a brave new world!" The music soothed down a bit and I saw Gwyn take the lead on this half and Violet pulled off to the back.  
"A warning… to the prophet,  
the liar…_

_the honest…  
This… is… war…  
Oh!  
To the leader…_

_the pariah…  
the victor…_

_the messiah…  
This… is… war…"_ The song picked up again and the crowd easily became putty in their hands, it was hard not too, their voices were… for lack of a better work, pretty closer to perfect…  
_"It's the moment of truth,_

_and the moment to lie,  
the moment to live,_

_and the moment to die,  
the moment to fight,_

_the moment to fight,  
to fight,_

_to fight,_

_to fight!  
To the right,_

_to the left,  
we will fight… to the death!  
to the edge… of the earth,  
it's a brave new world,  
from the last to the first._

_To the right,_

_to the left,  
we will fight… to the death!  
to the edge… of the earth,  
It's a brave new world,  
It's a brave new world  
It's a brave new world!" _A sudden turn in the music caused it to slow down and run at a soothing tempo. I saw both girls come to the front on this; it appeared that both of them would do this part.  
_I… do believe… in the light,  
Raise your hands… into the sky.  
The fight is done… the war is won…  
Lift your hands toward the sun.  
Toward the sun,  
toward the sun,  
toward the sun…  
The war is won…"_ The soft music finished before suddenly it took on its face tempo which I guessed was going to be its last time. I saw Violet spin Gwyn before pushing her slightly forward to take the lead on the ending.  
_"To the right,_

_to the left,  
we will fight… to the death!  
To the edge… of the earth.  
It's a brave new world,  
from the last to the first.  
To the right,_

_to the left,  
we will fight… to the death!  
To the edge… of the earth,  
It's a brave new world,  
It's a brave new world,  
It's a brave new world!" _I was surprised to hear the music slow up one last time, but I knew it was the ending.  
_A brave new world…  
the war is won…  
the war is won…  
A brave new world…"_ Violet and Gwyn finished the last notes together and they finished their song fairly quickly, only a couple minutes had passed from before they started. Neither of them seemed to mind though. Violet was grinning like not tomorrow while Gwyn just looked pretty happy and the crowd was going off like there was no tomorrow.

"Alright! Thanks so much everyone!" She clicked her teeth. "But that was just a warm up! Feast your ears on the next piece we're about to-"

Violet suddenly stopped talking and I felt the bone chilling feeling I had once more like I had before. Violet could sense now what was about to take place. The people in the club talked quietly between each other while Violet's emotionless face finally gained back color and she looked to Gwyn almost in anger.

"Go get your pokemon and return them all, even Ticky, Gwyn." The older woman said in a demanding voice. "Go, get Tristan and get anything he brought with him and head to the woods. Quickly! I'll get your things and meet you there soon!" Gwyn didn't dare argue and jumped off the stage in a heartbeat and hurried over to me. She returned the team of hers and even her baby one before she grabbed my hand and dragged me along though the crowd.

My bag I'd already had with me, and there wasn't exactly much in it to begin with. I told Gwyn this as we made our way out of the building and out of the way of anyone else that was there. Gwyn and I actually had just ducked into the forest when I saw the entire place surrounded by a thick array of vines.

Both our eyes widened as we watched until I felt something grab us from behind and cover our mouths. I was about to bite down when I saw it was Violet who held us with her changeling hand of Amethyst's energy in her body. She put a hand to her lips that she'd used to cover my mouth and I nodded, along with Gwyn who clung herself to Violet's body.

Violet in turn grabbed onto both of us with a single arm while we both held onto her and she flew off through the dark forest, using the darkness to help hide her, but I could still make out the color of her partly because it was neon in color. Violet realized it too and hissed under her breathe.

"Shit… Chalcedony, use mist to cover our tracks as we head to the city." Her dark type appeared on her shoulder and from the pores on his body; he created a black mist that instantly turned the world back behind us.

"What happened back there Violet?" Gwyn questioned her.

"An emergency police raid. Since I left the grunt for them to find on the route, all major areas where people could easily slip into are all now being checked. It's most likely my brother that has the place surrounded; he has been turning a bit into my mother with his worries." She sighed. "Sorry Hon, it's my fault for not realizing that would happen, I didn't mean to ruin your night…"

"Don't worry about it Violet, I feel a lot better now." Gwyn tried to cheer her up. "Plus, you got us out of there pretty quick and Ruby got our stuff."

I blinked in surprise and looked over Violet's shoulder to see a small blur of red behind us that glowed a bit in the moonlight that was trying to stay out and in the smoke to hide its coloring. It must have been Ruby.

"You still have a damn good set of perception girl. Even I'm having a hard time telling her out of the haze." Violet let out a breath and swung herself forward with her wings for better flight.

"So… where are we going now?" I questioned her worriedly.

"A home of some old friends of mine that live in the next city in this region. They'll keep it quiet for us and keep us out of the public eye for the time being. At least until we've gathered our strength for the morning. After that, it's your choice what to do." She never faltered as she explained it to us."

"Violet… can I ask you something?" She blinked and looked down at me.

"Of course, what is it Tristan?"

"About your offer, can you wait for my answer in the morning? I need more time to think…"

She giggled lightly and kissed my forehead. "Don't worry about how long it takes you to decide Tristan; I'll wait as long as you want me to. The offer will stay open so long as you've yet to accept it."

**Witch's Note:**

**Finally! I thought I'd never get that one done! I thought it'd be so much shorter then it is actually, but my imagination got the best of me again! I hope you all liked the chapter and in case any of you were wondering, that song that the girls did was by "30 Second to Mars", the song is called "This is War" and I don't own it.**

**Okay, moving on! We have Tristan back in again and he may be traveling with Violet! Isn't that great! It'd do good for the poor boy to have someone around that he could trust! Don't cha think? Also, will Gwyn and Aaron ever get past these fights they have with each other? Who knows! But it certainly adds some drama!**

**Alright then, well I'll let you guys go now and milk over this chapter as much as you want while I start on the next one! I can't wait for it! We get to meet the legendary dogs next chapter!**

**Alright! Love you all and see you next week!**

_**Halloween Witch**_


	10. The Burned Tower

_Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage_

_Chapter 10: The Burned Tower_

**Third Person Point of View:**

In the dawn of the new early day, within a quiet little house on the edge of the old city, many people and pokemon were sleeping there after the events of the night before. One person in particular, a boy of the age fourteen, got up from his sleeping place, unable to go back to sleep and rest further. A person he thought he'd never meet again was asking him to join her on her journey to help him with his ambition, to take down those of his family that have stained his name with the blackest of sins.

He got to his feet in the room he was staying in with another young woman who was still seemingly fast sleep with her six pokemon huddled around her. His pokemon were inside their pokeballs to reduce suspicion upon him and he gathered up his things.

"Where are you going Tristan?" The boy froze as he heard the woman speak. He looked over to her and watched that one of her eyes was tiredly looking over at him, all the rest of her team had yet to stir.

"I need someplace quiet to think, I thought I could leave now before a lot of people were up."

"That wasn't what I asked."

He sighed. "The Burned Tower, I thought I could really get some thinking and training done in an abandoned place like that."

"Oh, okay. Do you want me to come by later to get you?"

"No, I'll be fine." He pulled his black back pack over his shoulder. "Where do you want me to meet you tonight so I can give you my answer?"

"It doesn't matter, I tend to move around quite a bit so I don't get bored or I take a nap, with a side dish of keeping an eye on Gwyn and Team Rocket in my free time. You choose."

He paused for a moment. "The basement of the Burned Tower, I think that'll work just fine."

"And what if someone else finds you before I do?"

"If it's anyone that I don't know or are from Team Rocket, I'm going to show them just how powerful I've gotten." His eyes got dark as he spoke. "But if it's that Aaron bastard who keeps hurting Gwyn, I'll show him no mercy." His eyes softened a bit and he turned away so Violet wouldn't see his softening face. "But if it's Gwyn… I'll show her that I'm strong like she is, I'll test my strength against her!"

He ran off through the house without another word. The woman couldn't help but laugh as she watched him run off toward the rising sun. She sighed as she curled back into the bodies of her family and team.

"He's just as bad as Alex was, I just wish… I wish he didn't have so much anger along with it…"

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

Violet had landed us on the edge of town that was closest to the edge of town that led to route thirty-seven, where I would head off to after I got my next gym badge here. Apparently the people that lived here were a set of four siblings that Violet had saved in the past when Team Rocket's boss at the time, Rose, had forced them all to join and help her after she murdered their parents.

The eldest was Isabella, or Izzy for short. She out of all the four of them was the only girl and all four of her brothers seemed to listen to her. The next eldest, Ian, he was a quiet person who hardly talked, but you got used to it pretty quick, when he did talk, it was pretty strait forward, he wasn't much of a joker or sarcastic guy. The second youngest of the four was Ivor, a very… expressive person. He was loud and outspoken, he wasn't afraid to speak his mind. The last of them was Issac, the youngest of the four. He was a almost child like adult at heart and held his family and Violet in high regard, calling her Champion Violet even after she told him not to since he felt it wasn't respectful.

I was surprised to see that the family felt quiet a bit of sympathy for Tristan when they found out who he was from Violet, but she still hadn't told me yet. I was already on the defensive to protect him if they flipped out, but Izzy was the first to accept him and the rest of her family quickly agreed. Tristan almost instantly felt at easy with them and Violet was happy to see that, as well then myself.

I yawned as I got up the next morning. My pokemon were all sleeping around me while we slowly got up and ready for the day. Once I was done, I headed downstairs only to be met up with Izzy and her two houndooms in the kitchen. She was feeding the two of them a fried sausage and hamburger mixture before she noticed me come down for breakfast.

"Good morning Gwyn. Is there anything you and your pokemon would like for breakfast this morning?" Izzy stood before the island in her kitchen with a few dishes going, apparently making multiple breakfasts.

"Um… I'm not sure just yet, but if you could warm up a bottle of milk and get me a tiny bit of something extremely soft to eat, I'd like to feed Ticky before she gets cranky, and it's about time I started her on some normal food. I've already caught her getting into some of my food and I'm worried it may choke her if I don't start it now." The woman kindly nodded to me before she headed to the fridge.

"How about we give her some corn beef hash? I have a whole two cans cooking right now since my brothers both love it and I know that some of Violet's pokemon love it too. And I can make more, so don't worry about the amount." She flipped a few things in the pan, and then she poured some milk into a bottle and put into the microwave. "It's quite a soft food and doesn't require a lot of chewing."

"Sounds good to me." Izzy was kind enough to help me get a plate of the food for myself and set a tiny bit off to the side for Ticky to try when she was done with her milk. Just as the food had all been prepared and the milk cooled to a delicate warm, Ticky came down the stairs and hiccuped as she crawled down toward me. She had tears in her eyes and I saw that she had a scratch on her hand.

"Ticky! What happened?" I hurried off my seat toward the baby pokemon and she sobbed into my shirt, effectively not telling me what happened to get her hurt. "Oh sweetie… calm down… Momma will make it all better." I kissed her little hand as gently as I could and her sobs quieted a tad. "It's alright Ticky, no need to worry. Momma made it all better with a kiss."

"Your quite good at taking care of her you know." Izzy told me. Her two houndooms stood at her feet and nuzzled her legs while she talked with me.

"I'm just trying to be a good trainer and mother to her, she needs that." Ticky looked up at me in question, but I only chuckled and held the bottle before her, which she gladly and greedily took and began to eat.

"Well it looks like you're doing a pretty good job." She smiled before she turned away from me to look up the stairs and her look turned to a worried one. "Hey Gwyn? Have you seen Tristan yet this morning?"

"No…" I shook my head. Ticky finished up her bottle that moment and burped before laughing. "Should I have?"

"No… I don't know… I think I might have heard him leave at dawn this morning…"

"Dawn?" I blinked worriedly at that. "But I thought that he was staying around until he gave Violet his answer on something?"

"We can only pray that he's still in town," she sighed. "I don't know if Violet knows that he's gone yet or not."

"Oh he left, a short while ago to collect his thoughts and decide what best for him and his team right at this moment." I blinked and turned my head to see Violet walk down to the stairs with my pokemon in her arms. "He left pretty early. He tends to think a bit better when it's just him, his pokemon and training."

"Does he plan to be gone all day?" I questioned her worriedly. "What about lunch and dinner?"

"I guess he's planning to get that on his own. I think he's got some money on him now that he's a trainer and battles for money so he doesn't have to steal any or anything."

"I can make something for him!" I volunteered really quickly. Once I realized that I'd shouted, I quieted down and began to stutter a bit. "S-sorry! I just meant to say… that I don't mind taking him something to eat so he doesn't get hunger and have to waste some of his hard earned money on food when I can make him some."

"Are you sure Gwyn? Tristan told me that he plans to battle anyone that comes toward him while he's in the tower." Violet warned me, but my plans were already in mind. I hurried into the kitchen and brought out some ingredients for food.

"Do either of you know what he likes to eat?"

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

A couple hours later, I'd prepared a large lunch for all of us, including all our pokemon with the help of Violet and Izzy. We had lots of cooked meats that Izzy had grilled and flavored while Violet made us a pasta salad. I made us a few sandwiches and chopped up a few berries that I put together into a berry salad. We also had some chips and some small sweets in the end of little packages of ice cream that Izzy had managed to find in the back of her freezer that she hid from her brothers.

With all of it packed in a large bag that Violet had given me (thankfully with wheels because of how heavy it was) and with it in tow, we hurried off to where Violet had told me Tristan had gone off to, the Burned Tower. All my pokemon were taking in the sights of the city while we made our way to the burnt building that was on the northwest edge of town. A few modern buildings were here, but most of them were refurnished ancient Japanese homes and buildings. The curved wood architect, the stained brown woods compared to the black roofs and edges and all the trees and bushes around that carried sakura blossoms trees, where their pink petals flew in the wind… it was so much to take in… It was like we had traveled back in time just to see this place.

I arrived at the Burned Tower a short while later and it showed me just how damaged the place was. All levels of it had been burned down to the ground without remorse, but somehow the first floor and just the skeleton of the second floor had survived from where I was standing. If that part of the building was still there, then the basement, if there was one, would have to of been mostly intact too. Cynder gasped at the amount of damage, claiming that she wasn't powerful enough yet to cause that much damage. I could see the little pokemon scurrying around inside of the building and around it, meaning that they'd infested it long ago.

"Hey girl!" I blinked in surprise and turned my head to look over at a young man that was heading over to me. He had spiky bronze-ginger hair that was styled so that it was angled from the back of his head to over his forehead and he had a set of lightly colored hazel eyes. A set of black jeans were over his legs and a brown jacket with a thick furry inside to keep him warm was around his neck. I could see the outline of a green shirt under his jacket and boots were on his feet.

"Yeah?" I turned to face him and pulled the rolling bag of food to a stop.

"Are you Gwyn Jalen?" He pulled his pokegear out of his bag and held it up before himself to look at the device. He looked at whatever was on the screen before he looked back at me. "Yeah, it is you…"

"Um… what do you need?" The young man took care of his pokegear and crossed his arms before he looked at me.

"A friend of mine asked me to be keeping an eye out for you, I'm sure you know him." He paused for a moment, debating on telling me. "His name is Aaron-"

I gasped and lept backward while Cynder instantly produced a smokescreen. I heard him shout my name, but I'd already taken off into the tower. I nearly choked on the smoke as I somehow turned Ticky into my chest and ran with the case of food rolling dangerously behind me. I suddenly felt a hand reach out and grab both my body and mouth before it dragged me into the darkness of the tower. I tried to scream and get away from the person, but they had a harsh grip.

"Gwyn calm down! It's me! Tristan!" I instantly froze when I heard that name and allowed him to drag me out of the smoke cover before in the darkness I saw his face with a small amount of light from his pokedex. "What are you doing out here? Better yet, what the hell happened?"

"I think that was Alex Oak, he was apparently keeping an eye out for me for Aaron…" I let out a heavy sigh and fell through his arms to the ground. "Just thinking about facing him makes me anxiously worried."

"So you came to the tower to escape him?" He got down on the ground with me and looked me in the eyes.

"No… I was already on my way here for a small bit of training and to bring a lunch for our pokemon, you and I. We spent all morning working on it so you wouldn't have to worry about the amount of money you had on hand, at least, not now anyway with us still being only beginning trainers."

He blinked in surprise at me. "Oh… thanks." He moved over a bit to the side and called out his pokemon. "Here, let me lead you to a spot further in the Burned Tower where we can eat and not have to worry about them finding us quickly." I nodded and allowed him to pull me to my feet before my pokemon and I followed after him further into the tower filled with darkness.

**Alex's Point of View:**

_Damn, I lost her…_ Violet was always a hard person to track, and apparently she was passing on her trade of hit and run to this girl she's been hanging out with too, a girl named Gwyn Jalen. The girl had been right before me only moments ago, but once I brought up the topic of her so called best friend that she'd been arguing with as of late, she took off in a field of smoke that was brought upon by her quilava. When the smoke had cleared and I looked before me, the girl was gone, and so was all her pokemon.

I sighed. _I guess I better check out the old tower then, with that quick smokescreen she couldn't have gotten far._ I turned to face the black tower that was only a rough skeleton of its old self and began walking toward it when I felt a hand grab mine and it suddenly pulled me out of the public eye within the sakura trees.

As soon as I couldn't see the town so easily anymore, I ripped my hand away and took on the traits of my blastoise to have more weight on me from a shell and armor all over myself while my hair turned blue. I looked around the area wearingly.

"Show yourself!" I growled. "I know your there!"

I suddenly felt a way of physic power come over my body and it shut down my sense of sight, my eye lids were forced to close and I suddenly felt something soft on my lips while I couldn't see.

"Now is that anyway to treat your girlfriend?" The soft lips pull back from my mouth and the next time I felt them was when her teeth were out, they pulled on my upper lip to drag my body closer to her and allow her access within my mouth. I felt her tongue enter and I felt in entire bliss, no longer upset that I'd lost the girl, Gwyn, but that didn't mean I didn't forget about her.

"Well what a surprise, I thought that I'd have to chase you all over before I'd find you." Violet only chuckled at me from what I heard.

"Oh don't get so full of yourself Alex, you haven't found me yet, your eyes are closed." I roughly pulled her closer to me and kissed her again.

"So that's why I can't see. I'm guessing Chalcedony, unless you made a new friend?" She pulled back from me, but gave me another kiss.

"Chalcedony." I felt a rough push to my chest and my changeling form faded as my back hit the ground and I felt her body a top of mine. She giggled as she kissed me and I felt it more powerful then I ever had before with my sight being forcibly taken out of the picture. I could feel the palms of her hands, there were smaller compared to mine and held my face close to hers as she emerged herself in her pleasure with me. I could smell the lavender in her hair and the light scent of the sakura blossoms all around, or maybe it was just the nature in general that I could smell? But no matter. All that mattered was that she was here now.

"Wait," my mind suddenly came back to the thought of that girl that I promised to help Aaron find. "Gwyn, I have to find her for Aa-"

"Don't worry about the three of them Alex, they're fine for now." Violet hushed me and continued with her attack of kisses upon my lips, face and neck. "Things will work out as they must, it would be wrong for us to interfere right now."

I wanted to question what she meant but she sucked on my neck, intently trying to give me a hicky as she bit down on the skin and the cords of muscles. I couldn't help but moan in pleasure and she could only chuckle at my response to her.

**Aaron's Point of View:**

I sighed as I waited over at the gym for Alex to return with any information or the actual best friend of mine that I'd hurt time and time again. I sighed. _I can't believe how stupid I've been, if she actually manages to forgive me this time it would be a miracle._

"Calm yourself Aaron, I'm sure she'll turn up in time, but you really need to think before you act." Eusine, a legendary pokemon researcher, told me. He was an older man that was probably in his late twenties possibly and wore a purple suit with a white cape. His hair was a light brown, a little longer in the back and seemingly held back with gel or some sort of hair product, other then the two thick batches of bangs that hung before his eyes. "She may not ever forgive you if you do this a third time. They always say that one's the charm."

"Don't be like that Eusine, let the guy find out on his own." Morty, the gym leader of this town, told his old friend before he looked back at me. "Don't listen to him Aaron, I'm sure Gwyn will forgive you in time, but I must agree with him on the fact that you should control your temper and think before you act more." The young man was in his mid twenties and a ghost type gym leader. He had on white pants and a black shirt with a purple scarf around his neck and a purple hat over his shaggy, yet somewhat long blond hair that was between his chin and shoulders.

Morty placed a hand on my shoulder. "Why don't we have our gym battle now while you wait for Alex to come back with information or your friend? It will pass the time and you said yourself that you were eager to get on your way if you had the chance."

"I guess so… I'm just not sure if I can battle at full strength with Gwyn so angry at me still."

"You were able to beat Whitney back in Goldenrod though," Eusine said.

"Yeah, _after_ she kicked my butt and booted me out of her gym the first time because apparently Gwyn told her to take me down. It was my second time battling her before I got my badge, and she almost didn't give it to me then because of how mad she was at me."

"Well I can assure you that if you do win, then you will get my badge, I won't hold it from you if I hold a grudge," Morty said. "Clair may do that when you go for your last one… but that's a long time to talk about that now, lets go, shall we?" He gestured toward the gym and I turned to him and finally nodded.

"Sure, let's do this!"

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

Eating lunch with Tristan was pretty nice to say the least. All of his pokemon were friendly and kind, I was kinda shocked to see that. Tristan had also explained how he hadn't technically stolen Croconaw back when he was a tododile, and I was going to try and clear that up with the professor later if possible. As for the pokedex, Tristan seems like a person now worthy enough to entrust it too, so I let him keep it and promise to lift any thievery charges that may be put against him by myself. After that it was a little quiet between us as we finished up our food, or at least, it was until the pokemon got into the pasta salad Violet made…

"Would you guys cool it? You'll all get some!" I was holding back all three of my older pokemon while the youngest cried on the floor because her older siblings were being selfish. Tristan was having a hard time of keeping the lot of his pokemon from attacking the bowl as well. It was a hard struggle, one that wouldn't easily be won.

"Alright! That's it!" Everyone froze as I snapped. "No one's getting any pasta salad unless you all calm down this _instant_!" Six bodies then neatly lined up and watched the bowl behind me. Tristan sighed and fell down to the ground.

"All for a bowl of pasta salad?" he muttered to himself angrily. I sighed and grabbed a bit of it for Ticky, Tristan and I to share while I left the rest of it as it was.

"Have at it." No sooner then my hands left the actual bowl did the pokemon leap at it. I grabbed Ticky in my arms and placed the bowl and a couple spoons in it in Tristan's lap before I sat down next to him. Once I was seated I grabbed a single spoon and grabbed a tiny bit for Ticky to try. She stopped her crying and gently took some of the food while she curled into my lap. She nibbled on that little piece while I ate the rest of the spoonful. Tristan even started in on the bowl and was surprised to see why everyone liked it.

"This is good…" he muttered quietly.

"You can thank Violet for it. She's the one who made it." He stopped and looked over at me in surprise.

"_Violet_ made this?" he asked while pointing to the bowl.

"Yeah, it's her mom's recipe." Tristan looked down to the bowl with a sad set of eyes and I looked over at him worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"Aren't you were curious about my past? What happened to me? Who I actually am? How I'm connected to Team Rocket?" He never looked at me while he ranted off the questions.

"Well, yeah." I shrugged. "But I also know that it's not fair of me to demand something like that from you. It's your past, your story, your choice when to tell. It's not my business to demand you tell me. Unlike Aaron…" I sighed when I though to my best friend and his… eager nature.

Tristan pushed away the bowl and set it between us before he leaned his head into his hands that rested, by the elbows, on his knees. "Do you want to know?"

"I think it goes without saying that I'm curious Tristan, but I'm not going to force you to tell me anything." I looked over at him questioningly and gently lifted a hand to brush some of his fallen hair out of his face so I could see it. His face was torn with anguish and worry. "You don't have to tell me, I don't need to know."

"No, I think you do. It's past time for me to tell you about my past anyway." He sighed and his eyes flooded forward to where his pokemon were with mine that were just finishing up the meal that they dived into. His pokemon worriedly looked back at him before they rushed to his side and tried to comfort him. "I'll start with my real name, its Tristan Agustino, and I was the son of the two leaders of Team Rocket, past and present, Giovanni and Rose."

I gasped and my hand flew before my mouth as I watched him. He angrily looked down to his legs and grasped the open air over them while his body shook.

"Three years ago, before Violet saved me from their base in Viridian; I was a slave, servant and heir to their organization and themselves. Everyday I was forced to battle and train, watching the horrid beatings and killings of pokemon and humans who either opposed or disobeyed. The only one who ever made it out alive was Violet, her pokemon and her friends and family." He paused for a moment. "After I was rescued by Violet, I ran away from her when her brother mentioned taking me to an orphanage, I couldn't go there, I had to amend for what my parents had done and take them down. I've been on the run for a long time now, and I only came out into the public when I became partners with Croconaw."

"So… that's how this is all connected?" Tristan nodded.

"Yeah," he smiled a bit. "And I feel a lot better now that I've told you Gwyn. Thanks for listening to me."

"No problem." I smiled at him. "So, now that you feel better, you want to have a battle with me?" My words caught everyone's attention, especially Shocker who sparked his ears and the end of his tail in anticipation.  
"Are you sure? We just ate; won't one of us get sick?" Tristan stood up from his spot and looked at me worriedly, but I brushed it off with a smile.  
"Oh, don't worry about that, we'll be fine! And everyone's eager to prove their strength after our last close run in with Whitey, she was a hard battle to win." I sighed and stood up with Ticky in my arms, who cheered at the memory. "She took out almost all my pokemon with just that miltank of hers." I raised an eyebrow before him. "Don't tell me you had an easy time against her?"  
"She was a tough battle…" Tristan rubbed the back of his head nervously. "It took a long time, but it was Ghastly that handled most of it, being a ghost type and not affected by most of the moves she threw at us helped. Normal types are nearly helpless to ghost types."  
"Oh okay, but still, battle me? Please?" I begged him and pouted with my arms wrapped around Ticky's small frame. She only laughed though at how I was acting and not helping my cause.  
"Sure, I've been meaning to pay you back for what happened over in Cherrygrove." Tristan moved away from me to provide us with some sort of a battlefield.  
"Alright! Who wants to go first?" Sunrise popped out of all my three active pokemon and grinned at the other side of the field. "Alright Sunrise, lets go!"  
"Oh, you're making it almost too easy then." Tristan looked back to his pokemon. "Let's go Ghastly!" The ghost pokmeon floated out before its trainer and grinned happily before it faded into the darkness of the tower.  
"Whoa, I didn't know ghastly could do that… keep an eye out Sunrise! It'll try and surprise you!" My normal type nodded and slowly moved about the field.  
"Ghost types and normal types never do well against each other on the field." Tristan told me from his side. "And my pokemon knows moves that can hit your eevee, so I'd be careful if I were you."  
I choose not to reply to him and quietly looked about the field. I saw that for a battlefield we'd choose a dark and gloomy section that was toward the back of the tower and behind a wall that still somehow has had some strength to it and would conceal most of what we did, other then noise or anything visible if it went past the wall. Apparently Tristan had been here a while to know all of that and choose a great place to hide and have a battle.  
A sudden flash caught my eye and I watched as the air behind my eevee _moved_. I gasped and gritted my teeth. "Sunrise! Use shadow ball right behind you!"

"Your pokemon knows shadow ball?" I ignored the comment for the moment and watched as my normal type flipped her body in a back flip while firing away a shadow ball at the ghastly that was directly behind her. It cried out in pain and was thrown back toward the solid wall of the tower that had yet to move. I heard it creak and squeal as it moved slightly, but stayed steady and in place with the ghost then stuck in the wall.  
I turned my head toward Tristan. "I never told you whether or not that I had a move or two that could work on your ghastly." I called Sunrise back and out went Shocker next, ready for his battle with Tristan's next pokemon. "So who are you going to send at me next?"

**Aaron's Point of View:**

"An incredible job there Aaron, I didn't think you were going to beat me there for a moment," Morty congratulated me on my win at his gym as he walked me outside. "That beedrill of yours really knows how to put up a fight."  
"Yeah, he's like that a lot." I shook the man's hand as I thought back to what had happened just a while ago. Beedrill had lost his temper in the battle and went out on a nearly killing streak toward Morty's pokemon. I had to have the help of my other pokemon to get him to stop and calm down and tell him that we actually won.  
"I wonder where Alex is though, I still haven't seen him since this morning, and it's been a couple hours since then." I looked worriedly around with Morty until my eyes landed on a groaning figure to my right that sat outside the gym doors. I saw a dark hicky on the side of his neck and he tiredly looked up at both of us.  
"Don't look too hard kid." Alex sighed as he slouched against the bench. "Sorry Violet kept me up so long, she wanted to make up for lost time."  
"Dude! Is that a hicky on your neck?" I poked it on his neck. "Did you give her one too?"  
The next thing I knew I was thrown onto the ground and Alex stood over my head, his eyes dangerously angry and black in color as a green color came to his hair and he took upon the traits of one of his pokemon.  
"I _dare_ you, ask me again."  
"I'd… rather not…" He snorted and released me from his grip. "So… you said you saw Violet, does that mean you saw Gwyn too?"

"Nope- uh wait, yes I did for a moment actually." He rubbed the back of his head before I saw him squeezing at the cords where his hicky was on his neck. He sighed at the pleasure of it. "Excuse me, sorry. I saw Gwyn in front of the Burned Tower with a large case of some sorts that she was taking with her there; my guess is a large lunch. I could smell the pasta salad from it; it had to be from Violet. She's the only one who can make it and it smells that good. Well… so does her mom, but that's beside the point." Alex jerked his finger toward the Burned Tower. "So that's where she's gotta be right now, or else I would have seen her again by this point and time."

"Thanks!" Before he could get out another word, I took off toward the Burned Tower. _I __**had**__ to find Gwyn!_

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

"Hang on Cynder! Use flame wheel to avoid his attacks again and hit Croconaw when you get the chance!" I called out to my pokemon on the field and watched as she turned left and right with her rolling fire attack to avoid Croconaw's water moves. Tristan had _certainly_ improved his team since the last time we battled and it was now an even battle with one pokemon left. Somehow, and I don't _really_ know how, but Tristan's zubat managed to stay well enough for most of the battle and knocked Shocker out with poison, but was knocked out itself by his lighting.

Now it was down to our starters, though I did still have Sunrise left over from battle one, it would be called my victory even if this was a draw, but I wasn't about to take this for granted, nor hold back. Battling with Tristan was so much fun, I'd wished I'd battled him more often, he tends to make faces when his pokemon is hit back, but if it's the other way around, he shows some real excitement by pounding a fist to the air and cheering out, before shyly putting it back to the way it was and praying I hadn't seen a thing. I couldn't help but snicker to myself as I would watch that occur.

"Now Croconaw! Use water gun at her quilava!" His water pokemon grinned and fired the water right at Cynder as she was racing to get as close as she could. She dodged left and right. She was able to nick her opponent's body with her attack, while still avoiding its attacks on her, but it was hard wonk and a long process to bring them down.

"This isn't working…" I muttered quietly to myself. "We need a better tactic… but what to do? If we get too risky, Cynder will get hit and knocked out and that leaves me with Sunrise only, not that it's a bad thing, but I feel a bit edgy about this… distance attacks only work if they're a large scale hit… wait a minute! That's it!" I turned toward Cynder on the field. "Back to me Cynder, stand right before me!" My pokemon's fire ball of movement that glided over the charcoaled floors rushed back toward me and she jumped out of her attack to stand there. "Smokescreen and then ember!"

The explosion went off in the remains of the once tower and the fiery haze of flames quickly spread over the field. I lost Tristan and Croconaw from my line of vision as the blackness took over. Cynder was still well out before me and was watching and listening, feeling and sensing the very presence of that water pokemon in case it survive the attack.

"Damn it!" I heard Tristan shout from the other side. I watched as the smoke slowly faded away from our battlefield and Croconaw was out for the count, lying down on the ground with its tongue sticking out, x's over its eyes.

"Yes! We won!" I turned to all my pokemon. "You guys were awesome!" I quickly looked back over at Tristan thought as he returned his pokemon. "And you did an amazing job yourself Tristan; I was really on my toes with this battle."

"But I still lost…" he sighed and sulked as he took a seat from where he stood.

"That doesn't mean you'll lose the next time, and didn't you have fun while you battled me? You can't tell me no, I saw your face while everything was going on. You really seemed to be enjoying yourself." Tristan blushed and turned his head away. I'm sure his team would've laughed at him if they had the chance and weren't so beat up by my own team.

"_Gwyn_!" I gasped as I heard a voice call my name off in the distance. I quickly returned Cynder because of how tired she was and Sunrise growled at my side and Ticky worriedly cried out while I hurried and placed myself behind Tristan. He easily turned tense and guarded me with his body.

I saw Aaron round the corner and as soon as he saw us his face went blank. He stood there for a few moments, just watching us, me hidden behind Tristan with Sunrise growling and snarling at him the whole time. He looked all over at our situation before he apparently noticed something and took a step toward us. "Gwyn-"

He was cut off by Sunrise's snarling and my foot unconsciously moving back away from him, but I felt it scream under the weight of my foot and it suddenly snapped and I felt my foot fall out from under me. I screamed and Tristan rushed around to grab me, but from the sudden break in the floor and the rapid pace that I was starting to fall at, he was dragged down with me. Aaron rushed at us, grabbing onto Tristan's arm to keep together with us.

My first worry was my pokemon. Sunrise and Ticky were falling with us and I had no flying pokemon on me. I quickly pulled out their pokeballs and returned them while the boys apparently tried to shift our bodies in the air so that they were below me and going to take the hit of the ground first. Both Aaron and Tristan looked so determined as we practically flew to our deaths.

"_PYSCHIC_!" I suddenly felt my body halt its decent and I looked around us to see how we were only inches from the ground. I let out a breath of air that had been trapped in my lungs despite my screaming. I suddenly felt our bodies hit the ground and I crashed into both of my friends' chest, mostly Tristan's from the softer feel it had too it from his thicker jacket. I quickly looked up only to be met with Tristan's deep onyx eyes. I was frozen in place by them. I couldn't move even if I wanted to…

"_Hey! You guys alright down there?_"

A third voice was what broke the spell. I nearly jumped off Tristan's chest and backed away from him, falling on my own back in the process, landing before some kind of statue that was behind me. It startled me and I rolled onto my hands and knees before I backed up between the boys behind me.

Apparently my first thought of them being statues was very wrong. All of them were living and moving. There were three of them, one that each looked at one of the three of us. The first of them was a yellow four legged creature that had a short, yellow haired body with grayish black markings on it and a white underbelly. The beast had a thin, light blue, zigzag like tail that had what almost looked like a sparked shaped tip to the end of it. Along its back was some kind of bright, dark thick swirls of fur that turned thick and solid, almost ball like on the ends. Its face was oval like, sideways. Its fur was a bit thicker on its head and came up into two identical little ball like curls on the top of its head. Right over its head was almost like a black plate with a spike in the center of it while the plate was spiked slightly under its curled fur. This plate sat over its red pupil eyes, and under those was a light blue x of sorts that hung right below the plate on its head and eyes. I saw two fangs under this blue x on its face and it almost seemed to be grinning slightly over at Aaron.

The next was a shaggy, long haired, brown four legged beast that had its deep red eyes calmly, yet intensely on Tristan. Its fur for its upper chest was a light tan with an edging of grey. It had four grayish black bands, one of them on each of its legs about where the leg would bend. On its back was what seemed to be curly, almost cloud like silvery white fur with some spiked bits on it as well, under what looked to be fluffy. Its face almost looked like it had a mask on it. It was triangular to a certain degree. On the top part of its head, just over its eyes was three, thinned out, yellow triangle ends. On either side of its head was the exact same shape, but in a deep red, just under both of the eyes. It also almost looked like it had on a mustache. It had smaller fangs then the first beast, but I could still see them over the lip of the beast's mouth.

From the last beast, who seemed to have its elegantly gentle red eyes on me, it seemed to be another four legged beast, though this time its fur was so thin, I could see every curve of this beast. In my mind it almost made me think it was the female of its group compared to the bodies of the two others that were much more filled out and masculine, but I was taught never to judge since I could be wrong. The beast had a light blue body with large white spots all over it. It also had a white underbelly and flowing, long, purple fur that cascaded behind it's head in waves. Before that hair was a large, tall and thin, hollowed out pentagon like shape that sat just above its eyebrows, almost attached I think to its eyebrows. Its tail came off like a ribbon from its back that flowed around strangely to the front of its body and waved about with the slightest of wind.

"Whoa…" I muttered softly under my breath.

I suddenly felt something behind me and I almost panicked and the sudden new person to arrive here with all that was happening. I felt a hand gently place itself on my shoulder and I turned to see Violet gently looking at me with Chalcedony on her shoulder before she returned him to his pokeball and looked over at the three beasts.

"Our deepest apologies for disturbing your slumber, sacred beasts, this was simply an accident. I hope you may accept my sincerest apology for all that has taken place and awoken you." She bowed to them, and while the two larger of the beasts did not apparently accept or hear her apology, the blue one, the one looking at me, looked up at the woman and nodded before bowing to her, then returning her eyes to me.

I blinked my eyes at the woman who spoke to the beasts as if they were royalty compared to her. I'd never heard Violet speak like that. She'd always been the authority over most everyone else, especially humans; apparently even she falls short to some of the pokemon in this world.

"I-I'm sorry too." The blue beast looked up at me in shock and I heard Violet suck in a breath. "I mean… we didn't know that anyone was living here, if we did, we won't have come and disturbed you. I'm so sorry for that…"

I heard what almost sounded like a pokemon version of a chuckle and I tilted my head at the blue pokemon that made its way toward me. Its friends finally looked up from the two boys that were on either side of me and watched it move. It stood before me and I realized that it almost seemed like I was a tiny kid again looking up at a larger person before me. The beast laid itself upon the ground before me, leaning a bit onto its side, and allowed only a foot of distance between us.

"Can… can I… touch you?" The beast nodded its head and slowly I allowed one of my hands to drift forward from where it was rested on my lap. I touched the short fur only to find how soft it was under my hand, it was quite surprising since I thought it would almost feel spiky rather then soft and smooth under my fingers from how short it was.

"Your fur is so soft… I didn't think it would be first glance from how short it is, but it feels really nice, and it looks so pretty on you too." The beast only laid its head against my hand, releasing the weight of it into my palm. "You're a really pretty pokemon…" I sighed, content to just look at it all day. "What's your name?"

"_There_ _they are! I knew the beasts would be here! It's the sacred beasts!_" The pokemon instantly lifted their heads to where the voice came from above. The beast, who's head was in my hand, jumped away from me to get to its feet and quickly nudged me to my feet with its head before it and the other beasts took off. They dug their paws into the old wood of the building before throwing themselves up into the air and dashing off. The voices seemed to follow after them and it was soon quiet in the bottom of the Burned Tower.

"I believe its time we left, we can talk things out back at Izzy's place." I nodded and Chalcedony came back out of his pokeball to look at his trainer. "If you would please Chalcedony?"

The pokemon nodded its head and its eyes glowed purple as it used its powers to lift all of us off the ground and send us out of the Burned Tower and back to the home where everything started today.

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

Violet had denied us knowledge of what had just taken place until a proper dinner was in all our stomachs once we got back to Izzy's place. We were lucky that she and her brothers were already had at work on the meal, so we wouldn't be waiting long on the information that nearly burned a hole in our heads to know.

"Alright chick, I really wanna know what happened back in the tower, we've had our dinner like you asker, so can we _please_ talk about it now?" Aaron had finally had enough of Violet's dallying on the subject and was desperate to hear about the beasts that had such an interest in the three of us.

I slapped the back of his head. "Show some respect you idiot! You don't talk to people like that." Aaron only rubbed the side of his head and pouted while he looked at me, a look which I ignored. "She'll never talk to you at the rate your going, and for your information, that's _Violet Vilmos_, one of the most powerful trainers in the world that could kick your ass from here to literally the moon if she wanted." His eyes went wide as he looked back at the woman in fear.

Violet sighed. "It's alright Gwyn; it's about time I told you of the legends of that tower and this city, which plays a part all over this region. You have a right as any trainer does, and especially as citizens of this region." Violet placed down the steaming mug of tea she had in her hands and pulled out a book she had in her side bag. It looked to be well worn on the outside from age and use, but the pages, when she opened it, almost made it looked as if it was brand new. "I have to start at the beginning for this all to make sense, so listen to me carefully and don't miss a detail, all of it matters when it comes to the legends of the Johto region and its legendary pokemon."

"Whatever…" I'm not sure if Violet heard it, but Aaron muttered that under his breath. Tristan caught on too and together we both hit him upside the head. He cried out and hissed at the hit but quieted right down for the story.

Violet turned to the first page in the book, which showed two towers and two large birds atop of them. "It started over seven hundred years ago, back when two identical towers were built in this town to honor the two legendary birds that lived here, Ho-oh, the rainbow pokemon and Lugia, the diving pokemon. Both of these pokemon had a tower to call their own. The tower that Lugia lived atop of was called the Brass Tower, while Ho-oh lived atop of the Tin Tower, named after materials that were used in the constructions of the tower that were opposite of each other."

"But there are no towers called that now, only the Burned Tower and the Bell Tower," Aaron argued with her.

"I'm getting there Aaron, just be patient a bit more with me." Violet didn't seem phased at all by his energy, in fact, she almost looked bored listening to him whine. "As I was saying, these two legendary birds lived atop of these towers. Now here's the part where things changed up a bit." Violet turned a few pages to show us a large wide spread picture of two pages that showed one of the towers being struck by a large bolt of lighting, catching fire and burning crazy like, and a thick down pour was all around it. "About a hundred and fifty years ago, a great storm suddenly appeared over the town of Ecruteck, a large lightning bolt struck the Brass Tower, Lugia's home. The tower all but turned to flames and Lugia fled, but not before three pokemon become trapped in the fire of the tower, perishing in its basement."

She flipped the page and showed us another picture, this time of three black bodies that had a symbol of lightning, fire or water over them and a gold light, along with one of the birds. "Ho-oh also fled its own tower in the mist of the chaos, but it had seen the lives that had been taken in the basement of the Brass Tower. Ho-oh took pity on these creatures and revived them, having them take on one of the features of the events around the tower as it crumbled. These beasts, reborn as the Scared Beasts of Johto, were called Entei, the volcano pokemon which took the event of the blazing fire of the tower, Raikou, the thunder pokemon which took on the feature of the lighting bolt that struck the tower, and Suicune, the aurora pokemon who took on the event of the heavy down pour that put out the fire of the Brass Tower, which from that point on was then called the Burned Tower, from its destruction."

She then turned the pages again to another large picture that showed the top of one of the towers with a bird pokemon that was hidden under the colors of a rainbow while the other side was a storming sea where the eyes and an outline of the other bird could be seen below the water and in the dark. "Since that day, it is unknown if either of the two legendary bird pokemon have returned to the city, even after all the time that's past. Lugia was thought to have found a new home beneath the waves in the area of the Whirl Islands to the west of the region, and Ho-oh is just purely unknown, since throughout history its been seen to wander the region from time to time. Its tower was also renamed to the Bell Tower from the Tin Tower, after the fire, from all the bells that were hung from it as presents to the bird in hopes that it would return to the city."

She then turned the page to the near end of the book and showed us a picture of the three beasts that we encountered in the tower. "These three beasts are said to roam around the region, but tend to sleep in the bottom of that tower, their birth place. They tend to only show themselves to trainers or people who have great potential, but I was shocked to see how comfortable Suicune was with you Gwyn."

"Suicune was its name?" I blinked at the woman as a short yawn over took my mouth for a moment. "Does it normally do that?"

Violet shook her head. "No, while I will say that Suicune was recorded to be the most interactive of the three of them, I've never heard nor saw of it actually being so lax about you and a few others there, especially a legendary beast such as itself." She sighed. "Look at me; I'm fuckin' turning into Professor Oak…"

Tristan had been quiet the whole time while listening to the story. I turned to him as she scanned the page that was still left out before us.

"So… which of these pokemon are which?" He finally questioned her while she was muttering to herself. "I'd like to know the name of the one who was looking at me."

"The brown furred one is Entei, the fire type," Violet said as she pointed it out. She then pointed to the yellow one. "That one is Raikou, the electric type." She then pointed over to the blue one that had lay down with me. "And this is Suicune, the water type."

"Wow…" I shook my head slowly as I tried to grasp all this information. "But why did they take such an interest in us?"

"That I really don't know Gwyn." Violet sighed before she closed the book and put it back in her bag. "Well, its getting late. You have a gym battle in the morning Gwyn, so you'd best get your rest. Same goes for you Tristan, and I'm sure you'll need all the rest you can get for more training and what not Aaron." She made a shooing motion at us, but it was mostly directed at Aaron. "Go on, get to bed and get some good rest."

"What!" Aaron lashed out verbally. "You can't make us-"

I grabbed on his ear before he could say another word and dragged him away from the room. "Its bed time Aaron, let's get going or you'll be all cranky tomorrow."

"Oww! Gwyn! Let me go!"

**Violet's Point of View:**

I watched as Gwyn dragged her sorry ass best friend off to his bedroom where he'd be spending the night here and all that remained after they left was the red haired boy who apparently needed to speak to me. He seemed a bit hesitant, his eyes clouded over and his fists opening and closing. It was only after a few moments that Tristan then looked over at me. I patted to the open spot next to me on the couch and he nodded and easily sat in it.

"So?"

"I've decided, even if I'm still a little worried."

"Well, to be honest, it's alright to be, and you should be a bit. I'll have to leave you with Gwyn every now and then if I think I may be cornering in on Rose and you can't be there until you're much stronger, and Gwyn can also help you with that. She's already taught you so much, even if you haven't noticed it."

"No I have, Gwyn's done me a lot of good." His eyes floated away from me and I saw them cloud over again. I almost could have sworn I saw a tint of red in his cheeks, but I wasn't positive at that moment since he shook it off too quickly. He looked back at me. "Violet… did they say anything about what would happen to Rose when she was caught?"

I sighed and nodded to the poor boy. "Yes, it took them a total of half an hour to decide her fate if she was ever caught. Rose is simply too dangerous leave running amuck in our regions and all over this world."

Tristan sighed and nodded.

"Tristan, I don't know if you know this or not," the boy looked back up at me with knowing eyes. "But just to make sure, if she isn't killed in the field, which I've been given permission to do for the sake of our regions, then when she's caught, it's either life imprisonment or the death sentence."

**Witch's Note:**

**Oh I'm so mean! I didn't tell you Tristan's answer! And I left you off knowing that if Rose is caught, she either dies on the field or dies in captivity! Wow! Did anyone notice that Aaron still hasn't apologized to Gwyn yet? Yes? No? Maybe?**

**Anyway, here, as you can all see, is another chapter for you guys to enjoy (or not if you don't like the story for some reason) and I'll be working to get out the next chapter soon for the next due date!**

**Love you all and see you next week! And don't forget to send in Questions and Reviews please!**

_**Halloween Witch**_


	11. Forever Battling

_Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage_

_Chapter 11: Forever Battling_

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

When the next morning came, I felt quite energized and ready to start the next part of my journey, and get my next badge in this town. The gym leader, who was named Morty, was apparently a ghost type gym leader, so my best option to face him would be Sunrise, since she was a normal type that knew non-normal type moves to beat him. From what I heard, most of his pokemon are in heavy training right now, so he's only using two pokemon, just the same as I am.

I sat up in the bed I was resting in. My pokemon were all resting around me on the bed since they didn't want to be cooped up in their pokeballs, plus they were so small, it didn't really bother me that much. Off to the side was Aaron on the other bed, snoring away with his pokemon all around him, his pidgeotto seemed to have the worst time right now with it being early morning, the time for it to rise and that Aaron probably kept it up all night.

I yawned and sat up from my bed, pulling on my jacket to keep warm for the time being. I grabbed my bag. "I'll be back in a minute." The bird pokemon tiredly looked up at me before it gave up sleeping so close to its trainer and flew over to my bed and curled its body under the covers. I sighed, I couldn't blame the poor pokemon, Aaron could make the most racket, even in his sleep.

I quickly got changed quickly and once I was done getting ready for the day, I stepped out of the bathroom to find the poor bird still cringing at the sounds of Aaron's snores. I whistled softly to it and held out my arm for it. Not even asking what for, the pokemon leaped onto my arm and I led it out of the room, closing the door and the snores instantly silenced. The bird sighed and relaxed on my arm finally and dozed a bit off while I led it down to the first floor.

Like before, Izzy and Violet were already down there and making breakfast when I came down. They blinked when they saw the tired bird on my arm, but I waved it off and sat down at the counter. The bird was kind enough to move its body to the couch where it huddled down as if it was in a nest and put down its head to sleep. I was surprised to see that just off to the side of the bird was Tristan sitting in the chair next to the couch. He looked quite upset over something, but I knew better then to pry.

"Hey Hon, ease the gaze a bit, look much harder at him and you'll put a hole in his head." I turned my head in a rush to Violet's voice as she leaned over the counter to face me. I thought she would have been wearing a grin, but her face was grim.

"Is something wrong Violet? You don't look as… like yourself." She gave me a half-hearted smile and fake smirk before it faded and her face turned grave again.

"Tristan told me that you know everything now, right?" I nodded. "Then it's no harm in you knowing, the news is national anyway." She took and looked worriedly over at him.

"What is it Violet?" She looked back into my eyes and she had the most grave look, as if she was about to be sick.

"Rose, Tristan's birth mother, has been causing a lot of trouble in the recent years; she's murdered mass numbers of people and pokemon with no remorse and has forced others to watch, especially her son in the past. A judge and court from both our regions and representatives of all other regions that are allied with Kanto and Johto have all decided that for the greater good of all of us, Rose is either to be captured or killed, and when captured, if not killed there, will be killed in prison or forced to have life imprisonment."

I was floored as I heard the news. I knew Rose Agustino was a horrible woman and bad to the bone, but death? Does she truly need _to_ be killed? Could Violet overcome the humanity still inside her dominating will to kill the woman? She's never killed before, how could those people ask so much of her at only the age of sixteen?

"If given the chance, I have to take her out, for the good of others…" she let out a shaky sigh. "I don't know what to feel about that. While I know she's not good at all, I mean, I faced her so many times where she was trying to kill me, but I've never tried to kill her, wound her and stop her yes, but never _kill_." She worriedly then looked over at Tristan. "He doesn't know what to think either." Her words forced me to look at him with my own worried eyes. "She's still his birth mother, even after all that's been said and done. He doesn't know whether to be happy or sad, upset, enraged… he's confused."

"I'm fine Violet," Tristan's darker voice rang out in the quiet room. "Stop worrying, it's about time someone decided that she had to go…"

"You don't really mean that, do you Tristan?" The boy was shocked to hear me ask him the direct question. I shook my head as I approached him. "I know you hate her and your father and all their members after all that they've done, but even so, is death really the only option? What will death solve besides the fact that another life will have been taken that can never come back?"

"Shut up… you don't know anything!"

"I think I know a little about death more then you do!" Tristan's hardened face instantly vanished when he saw and heard the anger in my face, body and voice. "I lost my father years ago; I don't even know what happened to him! All I know is that he's gone! Death doesn't solve a thing! All it causes is more pain and suffering! A connected chain of eternal agony and torture… and is that what you want? To spread the chain? To spread _that_ chain?"

"Gwyn, I know you mean well, but that chain spreads faster with that woman still being on the loose," Violet sighed. "I also agree that death might not be the best option, but after all that's happened, it's now become an option whether we like it or not." I felt Violet's hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off and I felt the tears stinging my eyes.

"I need some air!" I pushed past all of them and rushed into the outside cold air of the early morning. I heard all of them calling out for me, but I ignored them all and rushed off into the town.

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

I'd been gone over an hour or so, I didn't want to return back there without myself calming down first. That was also the first time I'd ever yelled at Violet and Tristan. It was such a strange feeling; I didn't like it at all. I ate out for breakfast and ignored all calls that came to me. I didn't want to speak to anyone, I didn't want to talk, I just wanted some peace and quiet.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but death has never been a big fan of mine. I'm actually a bit of a necrophobic actually, or a phobia of death. Dead plants I can deal with and what not, they don't bother me as much as pokemon or human deaths. I've been known to lash out when someone close to me has perished, or if I see a dead body just lying somewhere, I don't deal well with that. While fighting against people who do wrong doesn't bother me, any side committing murder on any level just purely mortifies me.

"Quil!" I turned my head from where I was resting under a cherry tree and my four pokemon came running up to me. I blinked in surprise, I knew I'd left them behind at the house for rest, I didn't think they'd come all the way out here or run all over town to find me.

"Sorry guys, did I worry you?" Ticky was sobbing in the arms of Shocker who carried her here. She struck out her arms toward me and full out screamed and cried, wanting Momma over big brother Shocker. I sighed and took her from her older brother and she cried into my shirt. "Calm down Ticky, Momma's here now."

"Flaa flaa flaaffy flaa?" Shocker questioned me as he caught his breath now that he didn't have to hold onto his baby sister.

"I left because some issues came up over there that didn't bode over well with me." I sighed. "I argued about death with Violet and Tristan, it wasn't exactly pretty…"

"Eevee ee!" Sunrise stuck up her tail and nose angrily. "Ee ee eevee ee!"

"I'm sorry that I woke you guys then, and for leaving you back at the house without me." My eye caught that of the dark black and purple gym that was behind us that seemed to just give me a calling feeling. "How about we let off some steam and go battle the gym leader? We still need to get our fourth gym badge."

"Quil," Cynder said to me. "Quil quilava quil?"

"Good question, all three of you should be okay for battling him, but I think the best choice would be Sunrise." My normal type grinned at me. "The reason being her a normal type, which all ghost moves don't work against, and she knows moves that could take out those ghosts types in minutes."

"Flaa! Flaaffy flaa!" Shocker called out pleadingly.

"Of course you can battle too Shocker, I promise you'll get a shot." I turned to look over at my fire pokemon. "I hope you don't mind that you don't get to battle this time Cynder."

"Quil," she shrugged at me. "Quil quil lava quilava quil."

"I promise, the next few trainers we'll face are all yours." I then blinked as I thought of something. "I just remembered, why don't we start training Ticky after this gym battle? I think it's well past time for her to at least get her feet wet in the world of battling."

"Toge?" Ticky looked up at me and tilted her head in confusion.

"Yes, I mean you, do you wanna go ahead and do that?"

"Gee!" She cheered and I saw her hands turn white for a moment before a whole bunch of water came splashing down on all of us. I cried out in surprise from the cold liquid, but Ticky stayed all dry since I hunched my body over her.

"And we need to put a lid on that metronome attack before it really turns out to be a strong attack and hurt someone." All my soaked pokemon nodded and shook off the water which I shielded my face and Ticky from before I looked at the gym. "I guess we could wait a bit at least until we were dried off…"

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

Once my team and I had dried out for the most part from our drenching from Ticky's metronome, we hurried over to the gym before one of the others actually found us. I stepped inside the gym doors and I instantly felt a chilling feeling overtake me, and I'd been laying out in the sun for a while _and_ had Cynder on my shoulders. It was _cold_.

"Welcome challenger- ah, Miss Gwyn Jalen, I was wondering when you would show up." I looked over to the man that was speaking to me, Morty, and watched as he glided through the dark gym. Fog was all over the place, adding to a creepy factor, not to mention that light was only shined on the trainer boxes, the rest of the field was dark and covered with what seemed to be rocks to help with hiding.

I gave him a look. "You know me?"

"Well, I know of you. Aaron Verin talked of you quite often when he battled me and was brought to this town by Alexander Oak. That and I know about Team Rocket and what I hear about you in the news. But that's about all I know." He gave me a playful smile. "And I assume you're here to battle me?"

"Yes…" I blinked. "How many pokemon?"

"Aren't we in a rush?" He only laughed at me and I growled back.

"No… I need to vent some pent up frustration before I lose it."

Morty blinked and all his playfulness was gone. "Do you want to talk about it? I'm a good listener-"

"No offence," I sharply said before he could say anything else. "But what I really want is to get my forth badge and just gently cool off before I head to the next town. Can we just do that?"

"I guess." Morty shrugged. "Two pokemon only."

I blinked at that, surprised. _Really? That's less pokemon then the last gym leader, I wonder why?_

"Flaa!" Shocker jumped out first onto the field before I could really say anything to him at all.

"Are you sure Shocker? You don't want to wait?" My flaaffy shook his head and sparks flew all over his body. He was ready for a battle.

"Well if this battle helps you feel better, then I'll do everything in my power to make it a memorable one." Morty's smile turned to a smirk and he threw out one of his two pokeballs. "Go Misdreavus!"

From the pokeball he threw out came a small ghost pokemon that looked like a little child with a large head and a tiny dress under her, but there were no limbs, but there was a wild patch of thick hair on its head. Its body was mostly a dark grey and black color with some hints of a darker caribbean blue and some thin streaks of bright pink in its hair. Its eyes were yellow with black pupils and it grinned when it saw me, laughing before it faded into the dark of the field.

"What the heck…" I pulled out my pokedex and pointed it at the field, hopeing I could get a read on this pokemon. It somehow picked up on it and its picture showed up as the device spoke to me.

_Misdreavus, the screech pokemon. It likes to play mischievous tricks, such as screaming and wailing to startle people at night. It loves to bite and yank people's hair from behind without warning, just to see their shocked reactions. Misdreavus nests are rare and tend to only be found on the treacherous Mt. Silver or in the Safari Zone._

The pokemon reappeared before me and floated its way over to Shocker. It laughed at Shocker before it grabbed and pulled at his wool and he cried out before electrocuted it. The misdreavus was thrown back and it growled at my pokemon, quite angry that he'd shocked it while it was having its fun.

Shocker was just as equally mad at the opponent. His body sparked and everything about him lit up as he growled at the misdreavus. The pokemon opposing us then grinned madly as it saw the real battle was about to begin.

"Now, now Misdreavus, no need to get so wild," Morty told his pokemon.

"Why are you telling it that?" I snapped at him. "You said you wanted to help me, right? Well, to make this a memorable battle, I want to fight a pokemon at its best, if its best is fighting like this, then I'm game." Morty only sighed at me.

"If you say so… don't say I didn't warn you." Morty looked one last time to his mad pokemon that was still floating on the field and sighed once more before I saw determination hit him head on all over his face. "Alright Misdreavus, use screech!"

The pokemon shrieked out a terrifying cry that echoed in this room. We all raced to cover our ears, but I had to sacrifice my own to save little Ticky's. The ringing echoed from the cry in my ears and I felt I couldn't hear much of anything. But that didn't matter, as long as Shocker could still hear me and obey orders, we were all set. The misdreavus' cries suddenly quieted to a wail, and while the ringing was still present in my ears, we'd move onto the attack.

"Shocker!" My pokemon's head moved up at my voice. "Thunderbolt!"

Shocker nodded and cried out as he let loose a few statics before unleashing a bright bolt that lit up the entire field. The little ghost pokemon cried out, and I saw Morty give it an order, but I couldn't hear it. A beam of bright pink with small strings of other colors came from its mouth and it tried to fend off my pokemon's attack, but somehow it just wasn't working. The thunderbolt attack slammed down onto it and I'm sure the pokemon was screaming once more, but now with my ears ringing as they were, I could hardly make it out.

"Alright Shocker! Now head in with iron tail!" My pokemon heard my other order and ran down the field, its tail turning a metallic color as he leapt in the air, curled up his body, and smacked the tail right on top of its head. The misdreavus was thrown into the back wall behind Morty, and he was shocked to see it there, but somehow the pokemon came lumbering out of the wall, floating barely in the air and floated next to its trainer.

Morty said something else to his pokemon, I have no idea what it was since I still couldn't hear, but from what I saw, it wasn't a good thing.

Shocker looked back to me for instruction on what to do, but without my hearing I didn't exactly know what would happen next. I told him to shock his opponent again, which he did, but the ghost pokemon screeched out again, and this time some sort of red chain like thing connected the two of them. I watched as Shocker was dealt pain from the wounds on the misdreavus, in response I told him one last time to shock it.

I finally was able to hear again and heard him cry out as the chains hurt him. What looked like a form of red lighting to me actually was not lighting at all, for it would have been absorbed by his body if that was the case.

"Shocker! End it with thunder!"

With a roaring cry, thunder shook and cracked the ground and the large bolt of lighting hit it. The small misdreavus cried out and the chain between the two of them snapped before it was thrown back before Morty in the ground, it was knocked out for the count.

Morty stared in disbelief at his pokemon, then back at Shocker and me while I hurried out to the field and caught my pokemon just before it fell to the unforgiving ground, cracked and torn about that would have surely hurt him further.

"Nice job Shocker, take a good rest, okay?" My pokemon easily nodded and allowed me to return him before I walked back to my place.

"I wasn't expecting your flaaffy to be able to take Misdreavus out," Morty sighed as he returned his pokemon and pulled out another pokeball. "Are you prepared for my other pokemon?"

"Born ready." I nodded over at Sunrise and she took the field with her tail up in the air and her nose up high, huffing down on Morty from her spot. He raised his eyebrow at her, realizing how much of an attitude she had toward most everyone except me and my pokemon (also including Tristan and Violet and their pokemon.)

"Then let's go Gengar!" A large a stubby looking, dark purple pokemon appeared with red yes and black pupils. It laughed as it looked at my pokemon before fading into the darkness of the field and Sunrise seemed not to care in the least. She had faith in my advanced human vision.

I watched the field carefully as it was only the two of them out there. Sunrise seemed only to hold her place and didn't move while she waited on my orders. My eyes lingering on anything that I saw that was moving, or that I heard a sound from. My senses were much stronger then the average human for some stranger reason, but it played to my advantage when I needed to find something out of the ordinary.

The shadows didn't move at all, the air was still, but that feeling that something was in the air was here, sending chills up my spine. The ghost pokemon was floating around somewhere in here and all I needed was the slightest sign to find out where it was. Anything could be a sign to it, but it was actually finding it that was the hard part.

I felt the impatience creep up inside my skin, heck I felt like I was turning into Aaron! Maybe my journey was changing me more then I originally thought it would, but then again, everyone's journey changes them. Look at Violet, she started out as just a normal young girl who, while seemingly didn't allow others to push her around, was just a normal teenage girl at the beginning of her adventure. Over time though, as her journey began and she was faced with some of the harshest challenges a trainer would ever have to face: evil organizations, near death experiences, pain of others and death of others; she still managed to become the most powerful trainer in her region of Kanto and stand strong for all those that she loves and cherishes. She was nothing even remotely close to ordinary or normal now like she was at the beginning.

And even… me… while I still have most of the patience I always had for dealing with people and pokemon, I've become slightly impatient, losing my temper and emotions at times when I should have been more controlled. It could be due to the fact that everything bad that happens reminds me of losing my father; it also could be due to the fact of my necrophobia. Who knows, maybe, subconsciously, it may have to do with my encounter with Team Rocket and how I stood up to them, even when I was scared for my life…

I saw a shift in the air and I stilled, my breathing halted and I saw Sunrise stiffen, she knew I'd seen it. I looked to the area with the flash again and watched the shadow become more visible from the side.

"To the left Sunrise! Shadow ball!" Sunrise threw her body into the air by jumping off the ground and spun into the direction I told her to face and she hit the pokemon head on in the mouth and dropped it to the ground. It had become dizzy from the hit and was wobbling on its feet. "Now use iron tail to knock it back further!"

My normal type bound forward as soon as her feet hit the ground and she launched her back feet off the ground, throwing her into a roll and hitting the ghost pokemon head on. Morty seemed almost helpless as he watched his pokemon get beat up before he could even give an order.

"Gengar! Are you alright?" Morty's pokemon slowly got up to its feet from where it had been crushed into the ground by my normal type. I saw some damage on it, but it still seemed to be able to move about.

"Crud…" I groaned as I watched the pokemon as it got ready to go on its own offense.

"Now Gengar! Curse!" The gengar's eyes glowed and I watched as its wounds seemed to get worse while it continued to keep its eyes on my eevee. Sunrise watched in curiosity as the move played out and she felt nothing.

_Wasn't curse a ghost type move?_ I thought to myself as I looked out onto the area before me. _No, wait, that can't be right, other pokemon can use curse too. Its that strange move that doesn't have a type listed for it, it's a mystery one… but apparently its properties of normal and ghost affecting one another still apply, since its not harming Sunrise in the least._

"Why isn't it working?" Morty muttered aloud. "Is it because your pokemon is a normal type?"

"That's what I'm willing to bet my money on." His gengar was weaker now and struggling to stand from its painful, and apparently useless, attack on my eevee. It was hardly able to stand.

"Finish it up with shadow ball!" Sunrise grinned on her opponent like it had in the begging, showing it the same smile it'd given her when it first came out. She created the small mass of dark purple and black energy that turned circular in shape and then suddenly flew from her mouth and struck the enemy pokemon. Its weaken body couldn't withstand the attack and was thrown backward, thrusted into the wall, just a few inches from Morty's face. His face on the other had was frozen as his everything was lost to the depths of his mind as he took it all in.

I'd beaten him.

"Alright! Nice job Sunrise!" Sunrise only grinned at me, telling me in own way that she expected nothing less of herself. But she was still proud over our victory, as was I and the others. Ticky cheered in my arms and Cynder gave an almost devilish grin to Sunrise and the two older female pokemon on my team nodded to each other, almost as if they were challenging each other later on, reminding me slightly of Violet's pokemon: Amethyst and Ruby.

"Well… you certain gave me a run for my money." Morty sighed, running a hand through his hair before he gave me a soft smile. "Did your match against me help calm you down?"

"Actually, yes. Yes it did." I stretched while my two wild pokemon at my feet continued there apparent contest and I gave up on trying to control them to talk to the gym leader. "Thank you for that."

"Happy to help." Morty then pulled out a small badge from his pocket. It was in the small image of a wispy ghost, colored a pale dark blue with a silver edging to it. Two slits were in the badge's center that looked like eyes, colored a pale grey. "This is the fog badge, proof that you've defeated me Miss Jalen."

"Thank you Morty." I took the badge from his hands and pulled out my case to place it with the others. "Just four more to go."

"Wonderful, may I say where the next gym leader you face is?" I nodded to the leader and he pulled out a map for me. He pointed all the way over to another island land mass that passed through another city to the far west of here. "This island off to the side here of the region holds Cianwood City, the next place you should go for you gym badge, the leader there is Chuck, he's a fighting type trainer. Then to almost make it easy on yourself…" Morty pointed at the town that I would have to pass through. "On your way back to the main part of the region, you'll face Jasmine, a steel type gym leader in Olivine City, the one city you'll have to pass through before going to Cianwood. Then, you'll come back here for a rest before heading out to the north east to the last two gym leaders, and I can tell you about those two when you get back."

"Well that's awfully nice of you." The atmosphere didn't quite sit right around me while he told me this. Something smelled a bit rotten here, just like a muk. "_Why_ are you telling me all this and what exactly do you want me to do?"

"Now, now, let's not get hostile here," Morty tensed a bit as my two older female pokemon growled at him. "Its part of my job as a gym leader to tell you where the next gym is."

"But there's something else, isn't there?"

We stared at each other for a moment. He backed up slightly when he saw I wasn't kidding. "Fine, fine, I just want you to hear me out on your friend. Now that you've had a battle to calm yourself down, can we please just talk? I promise I'll do my best not to hurt your feelings with what we say, but I think you really just need to calmly talk."

I sighed. To be honest, I didn't really want to do that, but if Morty really thought I should, I sucked up my despairing thoughts and nodded.

"Let's get this over with."

**HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"So all of your outbursts and running off leads back to your necrophobia and father's disappearance," Morty summed up of my conversation with him. I didn't respond to him, but he already knew my feelings on this subject. He knew already that he was right. "If your friends don't know about how you feel about this, then you can't exactly blame them. Its over there heads, and Violet, while she's in a high position, still falls to the law and what's decided to that of criminals that need to be brought to justice. I'm sure she'll try everything in her power to not kill her and bring her in alive as to not have that burden on her head, but if it has to be done, you have to accept it Gwyn."

"I know that, I know I need to give Tristan and Violet an apology, they never knew about this…" I shivered. "But Aaron knew, he's always known, heck, he's seen me cower in the face of a single _grave_! He grew up with me and he's always known about this! But now…" I couldn't get my head around what's been happening between us. "Now I don't get it at all! Our argument this time wasn't even about death or my dad or anything related to it, but he knew it would make me mad, so why is acting like he is?"

"You know, as some boys get older Gwyn, they tend to get a bit thicker headed." Morty shook his head. "I actually was talking to Aaron yesterday, he was telling me how bad he felt about hurting you, he didn't even under stand why he was acting like he was, or at least, that's what he told me. If you ask me… I think he's jealous."

"Jealous?" That sent me back. "Jealous of what?"

"Jealous that he's not the only friend you have anymore." Morty sighed and leaned his head against his hang, as he rested its elbow on his leg while we talked at the stairs of his gym entrance. "You've made a few friends since your journey began, and you've met a lot of pokemon too, four of which are on your team." Morty shook his head. "Aaron told me that before your journeys started, he was your only friend, is that right?"

"Yeah, he was like a brother to me." I turned my head from him and snorted. "And he still is when he's not being a jerk."

"I know, I know." Morty patted my back. "But I think he's jealous now since you have so many friends and pokemon now that you don't have as much time for him as you used to, he's not used to it and doesn't quite like it."

"I… I guess that makes a lot of sense, Aaron always did like being the center of attention."

"Now that you understand a bit more, will you and him try to make up again?"

I didn't look back at him. "I don't know, I'll try, but that's about all I can promise, things have been pretty strange between me and Aaron since he turned thirteen. While he's still my best friend, it only seems like its gotten worse."

"Then now is the best time to fix it before it gets worse." Morty got up and then pulled me to my feet. "Go get 'em girl. Good luck." He gave me a thumbs up before he disappeared back into his dark gym, leaving me with my pokemon.

I pouted. "Well, we better look for them, but first, we need to help Shocker." My three other pokemon nodded and we started to make our way to the pokemon center in town.

**Morty's Point of View:**

_Was it wrong of me not to tell her the truth about her best friend? The real reason behind his changing around her?_ I watched from a window as the girl walked off with her aggressive and overprotect pokemon in search for her friends and some healing for her team. I sighed, worried that this may come back and haunt me.

_And it probably will, I hope she never realizes I never told her the whole truth and that the real reason behind Aaron's behavior wasn't just jealously over their friendship…_

_But jealousy for her affection and love._

**Gwyn's Point of View:**

After a short while of walking, we ended up at the pokemon center and had Sunrise and Shocker all healed up before we took off back into the city, heading toward Izzy's house where the others most likely would be and where we could apologize. On our way back, something competitive had come over my two eldest female pokemon and the two of them were wrestling and roughhousing with each other while we continued to walk thought the city. I could only sigh as I watched them and was shocked to see that Shocker never once got involved. He almost seemed to cower from their aggressiveness, which normally never happened. Poor Shocker, being the only boy is hard on him when he's got a pack of girls to gang up on him if they feel like it…

I suddenly saw a flash of red and it caused me to halt in my tracks. I was frozen as I saw Tristan and Aaron both up a head with their own pokemon out and apparently helping them look for me. Suddenly, Crocanaw's eyes caught mine and he pointed off in my direction with a worried cry to his trainer. They all instantly turned and when the initial shock that I was here and okay seemed to pass over, they all rushed toward me with worried faces.

"Are you alright Gwyn?" Tristan questioned me as he was the first to reach me.

"I'm fine." I sighed as I looked away from them. "Look… Tristan… Aaron…"

"You don't have to say anything Gwyn, at least, not to me." Aaron patted the top of my head and I looked up to him before he pulled me into his arms. "I've been nothing but a tauros-shitting bastard to you since before we even started our journeys and its about time I tried to amend for them all, or at least, what ever you'll forgive me for and I'll work on the rest to get your trust back."

I blinked at him in surprise. "Are you feeling okay Aaron? You've never tried to hard to get me to forgive you before." I raised one of my hands that held Ticky in my arms to feel his forehead, and I actually felt it was a bit warm. "You feel a bit warm, are you coming down with something?"

"No… but your embarrassing me Gwyn…" he hissed a bit as some others that were around were watching us. I pulled back my hand from his forehead.

"Sorry." _I couldn't do anything right by him, could I?_

"No!" Aaron suddenly grabbed the tops of my arms, not enough to hurt me, but enough to startle me and get my pokemon growling, even baby Ticky who was fast learning from her older siblings. Aaron quickly let go but forced me to look him in the eye with a hand under my chin.

"I shouldn't have snapped at you Gwyn, you meant well… ah tauros shit!" He huffed and kicked the dirt as his feet. "Why can't I say this like I want to?"

"Just tell her already, your making _me_ uneasy with the way your acting." Tristan snapped at him angrily, but it was still spoken as if it wasn't supposed to be heard. Aaron growled right back at him and turned to face him. Tristan did the same and I was left to be the third wheel in this argument while they dealt with each other.

"And since when do I take orders from you? I don't even like you!"

"Alright stop it!" I stepped between both of them before they could take it further. "You!" I pointed first at Aaron and he froze, he was under my judgment still and I hadn't said I'd forgiven him yet. "Stop arguing with Tristan, I'll agree to forgive you if you promise to try and get along with him and not provoke him. Alright?"

Aaron sighed and thought it over for a moment before he sighed and nodded. I then turned my attention to Tristan. "And you… I need to give you and Violet an apology." He blinked and both boys took a step back in surprise. "I lashed out when I shouldn't have. I can only blame it on my emotional self and my necrophobia, and for that, I'm really sorry."

"Uh... don't worry about it Gwyn," Tristan nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "We shouldn't have talked about it so roughly this morning, especially since we knew about… your dad."

"No… I really need to get over it." I shook my head and turned away from him. "My dad disappeared three years ago, and as heart breaking as it was, I've hung onto him as if he was still here… I guess some part of me just wants to believe he's still alive…"

"It's not a bad thing to believe Gwyn," Aaron reminded me. "I mean, look at Violet. Her Dad was thought to have been blown up and she didn't hear jack-shit about him for two whole years before she finally found some info on him and then found him."

"As much as I hate to say it, Aaron's right." The two of them glared at each other for a moment before turning worriedly back to me. "Not knowing is better since we don't yet know his fate, it means that it's possible he's still alive, just like Violet's father was."

I hiccuped as I felt the overly-emotional side of my start to seep through at the thought of death once more and the thought about my father. "I know…" I hiccuped. "It's just hard…" I started to have a harder time breathing. "Especially… with my… necrophobia…"

I saw the boys were about to reach for me in comfort when we heard a sudden scream behind us. We all turned back and for some reason, my emotions all just went flat right there and locked themselves up once more before my feet moved without me telling them to and I headed toward the building that we heard a scream at. The boys shouted at me to wait up for them, but with my pokemon fast on my heels, I didn't wait, especially if this was another Team Rocket attack.

My haunting thoughts were proven right when I stepped inside a small private dance arena for the famous Kimono Girls that lived here in Ecruteak City. There were supposed to be five girls, but a lone one of the sisters stood on the stage, dressed in her fancy kimono of gold, red and green, her black hair all pulled back and out of the way and a single pokeball in her hands, preparing herself should she need to. The Rocket grunt on the other hand that annoyingly jumped around the stage and apparently was trying to show off his dancing skills, or dancing skills he lacked. He kept spinning around in circles, only forcing himself to become dizzy.

"What the heck are you doing?" The grunt suddenly pulled himself to a stop on his spinning and looked back at the three of us. His jaw dropped as he looked at the three of us. A sudden, large grin appeared over his face and he suddenly pulled out a couple knives. The dancer next to him gasped from over on the stage and he suddenly threw one up into the air, hitting the main light fixture and temporarily blinding us. I heard multiple screams from a few others bystanders who were also in the dance arena with us while they all shuffled and moved about, many of them bumping into us.

I suddenly felt someone take and slam right into the front of me, taking Ticky right out of my arms. "Ticky!" I screamed out for my baby pokemon.

"Toge!" I turned my head and Shocker sent sparks flying all over his body to provide us with some light to see what was happening. Before me was a sight I never wanted to see. In the arms of the Rocket grunt was my baby pokemon. Her eyes were teared up as she tried to move out of his arms, but he held onto her too hard. She cried out, reaching for me and calling for me. I was frozen in place, I wanted to go to her, but that guy may slit her throat.

"Now this is a rare pokemon, Boss Lady Rose will be happy to get this little one." The criminal laughed as he rubbed under her chin and she tried to bite him. He pulled his finger away and merely laughed at her.

"Let her go! She's only a baby!" Everyone around gasped as they watched my little pokemon in his arms and me shouting at the criminal. "You let her go right now!"

"No can do." He clicked his tongue and smirked, but he got defensive when the boys tried to get closer to him. "Step any closer to me and the pokemon dies!"

_Die… Ticky… die?_ The atmosphere felt stiff as my mind and body took in his words. I felt all of my nerves turn to stone and I felt an unbelievable rage burning in the base of my heart that made its way all over my body. I felt like I was on fire…like I was a fire pokemon, but so filled with rage…!

Ticky's teeth suddenly made a connection with his hand, and the moment he said "oww!" was when I moved.

With a screeching cry, I lept forward across the floor and the grunt was shocked to see me move like that and plow right into him, sending us both flying into the wall, Ticky was safely between both our bodies to keep her safe while the Rocket took most of the hit. I suddenly felt something grab a large part of my hair and he threw me down on the ground. As soon as I felt my head hit the ground, it didn't feel like hardwood floors. It felt like I hit… stone... something rock like and hard.

I heard a scream and my eyes trailed up to my little baby pokemon that was in the villains arms. Her entire body glowed white and she shoved herself out of the Rocket's arms before she floated up in the air and large rocks suddenly appeared around her and flew at him. They smashed into the Rocket and threw him outside of the building while trying to crush him. Once he was outside, I couldn't see what was happening to him, but I could see Ticky. Her body was evolved in a white light. It was her evolution.

_So soon?_ I internally chuckled at the thought. _She's hardly been able to be a child…_

I watched my little baby pokemon's shape change, her egg middle of her body disappeared, or I should say smoothed out so there was no egg anymore over her body, but the body was there. Her arms and legs grew strait out, even if they still were a bit stubby, they were longer and distinguishable from her body and the shell. Her neck also became very long and her head was about the size of her body. Three spikes were still on her head and I saw tiny wings appear on her back. When the white light disappeared, I saw her coloring was a pale white, her eyes were black and she still retained those blue and red triangles on her body. Tiny gray eye brows were over her eyes. She cried out again and began throwing even more rocks at the grunt as fast as she could make them appear.

I felt like my head was spinning as I tried to move, I felt like I was going to be sick at the _thought_ of trying to sit up. It was truly sad.

"Gwyn! Oh my Lugia, Gwyn! Are you alright?" My eyes trailed over to the side where the boys and my pokemon were all worriedly looking me over. My pokemon became _extremely_ over protective and wouldn't let the boys touch me.

"I feel dizzy… and sick…" I raced a hand to my mouth in case I did hurl. I thought I felt it coming up.

"Don't think about it and don't try to get up, I'm certain you have a concussion and your head's bleeding pretty badly." Tristan pulled out a cloth or napkin or something and dabbed the side of her head. I didn't listen and lifted my arm, which lead to my head hurting a lot. "Don't do that Gwyn!"

I ignored him and kept out my arms for Ticky. "Ticky… stop…" My pokemon didn't hear me. She continued to throw rocks at the man. "Ticky!" Her eyes finally glanced back at me and she halted her attack when she saw me.

"Toge…!" Her voice was a bit deeper now, but it was still child like and had a more majestic flow to it. I kept my arms out for her.

"I'm okay Ticky, just come over here with Momma, okay? He's not worth it, just come be with Momma and your siblings." My pokemon hesitated for a moment before the rocks around her that she's yet to thrown had disappeared and she slowly flew over to me and into my awaiting arms. Despite the pain, I curled up into a ball on my aside and held her closer. "No one's taking you away from us again, okay? Momma's right here."

"_Flamethrower Amethyst!_" I heard shouting from outside as the cries of the grunt faded off. I saw through the hole in the building that Violet was out there with Amethyst. "_Go after them girl! I'll catch up with you and the others soon!_"

The next thing I knew I heard a gasp and felt another set of hands on my body, a set which apparently my pokemon allowed. I turned my head slightly, groaning at the pain, to look at the young woman who was looking worriedly over me.

"Oh my Mew… Gwyn what happened to you?" She shook her head quickly. "Never mind! Oh man… Chalcedony!"

The dark type pokemon filtered out from behind the woman's hair and she took on his traits as well before taking one of my hands in hers and Chalcedony walked up her arm to place his paws on my hand too. "Moonlight!" A glittering moon then appeared over our heads, blocking out the light of the sun from the whole in the wall. I felt energy coming back into my body and the dizziness and sick feeling were slowly fading.

"Violet?"

"Hush Gwyn," the woman wouldn't allow me to speak. "Save your strength."

"I'm sorry…" I took a deep breath, "for this morning."

The woman gave me a sorry look and shook her head. "It's alright Gwyn, but we'll talk about that later. I've got you out of the danger zone since you've stopped bleeding, but you still need to go to the hospital and get checked out more." She looked over to the boys. "Get her over there and don't you _dare_ think about traveling until she's well. I want you three together for the time being after what's happened."

Both of the boys nodded with no complaints, not even from Aaron. She then cut off the healing she and Chalcedony were doing and changed her changeling form to that of Amethyst's and grew her wings to fly after her team and headed out of the building.

"Take care of each other! If you need to reach me Gwyn has my number!" She flew off in the next second. We all looked at each other after she left and then it was Tristan who picked me up.

"We better do as she says before she comes back and kills us." I knew he wasn't serious about the phrase, so I didn't go crazy. I allowed him to carry me off and head toward the hospital where I could receive some more treatment.

**Witch's Note:**

**Oh boy… what a chapter, right? So we got Gwyn hurt, Violet gone for who knows how long and Ticky who's now evolved because her Momma was hurt. What a chapter…**

**So, does anyone have any guesses to what Morty was talking about in this chapter? What's the real reason to why Aaron's been so different to his best friend?"**

**I hope you guys please Review and send in Questions for me! PM or in a Review, doesn't matter which!**

**I love you all and I'll see you next week!**

_**Halloween Witch**_


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